Of Myces and Men
Epochal Barrel Fermented Ales

i wanted so so so badly to visit this place while we were in scotland, but i think they are temporarily closed or something right now, and we never made it to glasgow anyway, maybe because they werent open, it would have been the point, damn, but at least i found this brett fermented scottish pale in a cool little bottle shop, better than nothing but i am heartbroken to have missed this place. this is wicked beer, with a brilliant name, one of my favorites from our whole trip, its funky and dry, hoppy, and kind of hits like an orval, which is about as high a compliment as i can pay to a beer. high headed from the bottle, wispy and airy and white and belgian looking on top of a beer with a bit of malt color, not quite new penny copper but leaning past brassy, bubbly and pretty, refined plenty well without immaculate clarity. oak in the nose but also hints of like cedar to me, real aromatic there, the grain is full character and interesting too, some terroir there, deeply earthy, toasted, and dry to me. the hops are herbal and bitter at the same time, old worldy, lower alpha but dosed enough to seem pretty prominent, absurdly nice balance with the grain, but this beer is about the ferment, and its mature brux type brett to me all the way, very orval the way it plays with the hops, so funky and well developed, great with this oak, distinctive but also familiar, like this is pretty much exactly what i hoped it would be in my mind, and the flavor is too, perfect funkiness in here, mature and bone dry, subtle white wine, wet animal, and straw, with bitter hops coming on a little early, tea-like, dried flowers, thyme, somewhat springy for the hops not standing out as overtly fresh, the barrel character is in front of that, as is the brett, but the hops are key in here. the malt has body and flavor, wonderful harvest time personality, rustic but also kind of high end to me, special. light iodine and medicinal funk, like lambic without the acid in some ways, and with carbonation so excited its freaking out, refreshing in a way that should be impossible for a beer this complex. elite quality here, super dialed in, i hope everything is cool with these guys and they keep it coming, hard to get any info, but this is a gem, like a fully bretty belgian pale, only scottish in a way that is kind of indelible if hard to explicate, exquisite!