Brettish Bulldog
Against The Grain Brewery

Here's an interesting beer. 2014 Vintage, poured into a 2017 Firestone Walker Festival taster glass, consumed 4th of July 2021. If there's brett, there's been about 7 years to develop.

Pours a caramel like bright brown (oxymoron) color with 1/4" off white head. The aroma was more different than about any old ale I've ever smelled. Instead of boozy old library, this smelled like sourness. Ah the label speaks to that, and now my mind is wondering if this was a salvaged infection. Smells like a bunch of smashed fruit in said old library, so I'm thinking its got a lot of brett to it?

Taste wow, ok, I totally think there is a massive amount of brett to this, but then the souring reference on the label has me confused with how and what is going on here. It doesn't really taste 'sour' tastes more like brett to me, and I guess it might be easier when advertising to casuals to just call it sour. I dunno. But I did like it, drank lighter than its abv, good levity, tart caramel is the takeaway. Different stuff that actually worked for me.

 

2014 vintage; drank 11/29/14 @ the Yarchives.

Poured from the bottle into a glass.

Muddy raspberry rust hue; champagne bubbles throughout.

Big khaki head; strong lace.

Sweet raspberry jam & mild metallic notes in the nose.

Medium thick mouthfeel.

Mild raspberry & metal flavors up front; a dry, yeasty champagne finish. I would never call this an old ale, but it's interesting; it's also unsatisfying.

 

500ml bottle into large snifter. 2014 label.

A: Bottle was a slow motion gusher. Pours a leathery brown color with a very frothy off-white head that slowly faded into a fuzzy, soft looking film. Tons of soapy, spotty lace was left down the glass.
S: Notes of brett up front mix surprisingly well with sweet fruit juices, a candy-like sweetness, and a touch of apple juice and caramel. There is a mild spice present as well. Brett gives off hints of pineapple and tropical fruits.
T: Lightly funks but mostly fruity with notes of tropical fruit and peppery yeast over flavors of caramel, leather, and sweet fruit juice. The finish is lightly musty and very mildly sour, with a nice balance of lingering spice and sugary, fruity, sweetness, and the aftertaste has just a hint of cherry pie. Flavors mix together well, as the sweetness is not un-attenuated or cloying, and the brett is not overly drying.
M: Medium body, very creamy and soft carbonation, with a clean mouthfeel with a nice balance of sweet malt and dry yeast.
O: Very enjoyable and easy to drink. Olde ale flavors were not as potent as I would have thought, but I think the light flavors worked better with the drying brett.

Pours a nice Amber color. Has a definite Brett aroma. Flavor is Brett's and molasses. Leaves a tart fermented smooth aftertaste. Overall a solid beer,I don't know if I would regularly seek it out but it was unique and interesting.

 

 

This presents an interesting array of flavors that seem not to be appropriately paired but work none the less. Lightly sour Brett character mixes with ATGs typical smokey meaty jerky leather. White wine turns to a toffee malt, turns to a ginger and nutmeg. Old Ale meets Brett meets Against the Grain.

2014 bottle poured into a snifter. Huge brett character in this one (duh) and while I initially found the idea of an Old Ale base being brett-conditioned very appealing, I feel like the brett may be detracting from the sweet Old Ale characteristics I was hoping to find. The English malts pull through nicely but that caramel goodness is really hidden. Overall very enjoyable; just not what I expected and not done to the style's fullpotential, imo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

16.9 ounce bottle served in a wine glass

Appearance is amber with plenty of light shining through, a finger or two of head, decent retention, no lacing

Smell is pear, dragonfruit, and white grapes up front, rounds out with brettanomyces, caramel, toffee, and oak

Taste is raisins first, then fades into butterscotch, finish is dry with brett, little bit of booze coming through in the flavor too, dark fruits once it warms with some caramel and then finishes with funk from the yeast

Mouthfeel is slick, relentlessly dry, slightly crisp because of strong carbonation, brett helps it from being cloying, otherwise this had potential to be an overly sweet beer

Overall it is an interesting beer, the yeast saved this from missing the mark, couple years in the cellar would probably do this well and it would be interesting to see how much it changed, if I had an extra bottle, I would not drink it for a while

Complex ale with golden caramel smell, slight hint of spices. Sharp hit at the beginning which then mellows out to the caramel and actually finishes with just the slightest hint of bitterness. Overall, very lovely and comes for an ale, well done.

 

beautiful dark orange slightly hazy colors. Khaki colored frost about one fin impaired.
Sweet aromas of raisins, melons, butterscotch abd pear.
Taste of something else. Malts, sourness and some other funky taste I really can't put my finger on.
Deep, rich full bodied mouth.
Different beer. Worth a try.