Burdock ERO
Burdock - Kensington Market

 

Hazy peach colour, thin white head.

Smells like a fruity saison with some wine tannins.

The wine tannins really ruin this for me. They really don't meld with the fruit and the spicy phenolics. It's really muddled, with a drying alcohol finish.

A little thin and dry, could use more carbonation.

 

 

 

Pours a rose/peach colour, ring of white head and very little in the way of lace. The nose is quite lovely, cherries and berries followed by oak and virus wine notes, very fruit forward but still quite funky with an underlying barnyard character throughout. Taste is vinous, lightly tart and fruity, berry flavours with big red wine like tannins, oak with a light vanilla imprint, only lightly sour at points, long cherry aftertaste. Lightly carbonated, medium full body. Solid stuff very enjoyable.

Bottle from the brewery served in a Kuhnhenn tulip.

A - Voluminous white foam settles to a wispy, partial cap, collar, and splotches of lace. Hazy, salmon-pink body. Quite pretty and indicative of the fruit content.

S - Smell is initially great, with peppery yeast, acidic, tart berries, doughy malts, and dusty and lightly medicinal brett. As it warms, the brett starts to overwhelm the other flavors, but it's still pretty solid.

T - The flavor is a substantial step back for me. Way too much brett character here, with dusty attic, astringent and medicinal notes, and only light hints of berry and malt in the periphery. Not particularly tart either.

M - Medium body, soft texture, pleasant carbonation, and a dry finish. No obvious alcohol, which is impressive at 7.8%. Quite easy to drink.

D - Started out incredibly promising, but fell back into the tired Ontario obsession with brettanomyces. Don't get me long; I like many beers with brett elements, like Orval, but I feel Ontario wilds are a bit fixated and all seem to use similar brett strains. Can we get some other bacteria in the mix please? Still, easy to down the 375ml bottle on my own.