Bonfyre Of The Daquiris
Against The Grain Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear God guys, A non-descript Belgian Ale? A smoke beer? A fruit beer? ...and all in the same glass? Have you gone completely mad?

But they went there. And that ale culminates in a deeply hazed peach coloration that's somewhere between golden and mauve. The ale only amounts a light and dainty creme of foam that dissolves rather quickly and shows minimal specks of lace as the beer fades.

Tart fruit and smoke reign supreme in the beer's nose. Its and odd melange of campfire and berry-like tartness that is oddly compelling but also challenging to the nose. Any malt scents are dry and cower behind the fruit acidity and the mesquite. With no hop character to balance, the ale's aroma is rather bland and awkward.

And the taste only highlights what was experienced in the aromas. Fruity tartness of strawberry is easily mistrued as a general tart berry-like taste that I would have better described as pomegranate. As the smoke and spice builds, its not the expected mesquite that I taste, but rather a medical taste that haunts the taste thereafter. Of course the campfire taste is experienced but it is complicated with band-aid and "Chloroseptic-type" taste. Cherry, cinnamon and spice all converge in a way that makes a highly processed chemical taste possible.

Mid-light in body, the dry-ish ale is spicy, phenolically-dry and numbing with its prickle sprite acidity. Where the sweetness falls off in the middle, so does much of the beer's malt structures and its final fleeting finish- the ale simply falls apart.

This beer reminds me of homebrewers who simply have stuff in their cupboard from batches of the past. And eventually they have enough stuff to eke out an alcoholic concoction. Apparently, AtG has a strawberries, smoked malt and Belgian yeast at their disposal. As curious and challenging as the beer is, its kind of a dumpster fire of a beer. I may just have to drink a gluten-free beer to get that taste out of my mouth.