Massage A Mystic - Wood
Against The Grain Brewery

In collaboration with Marz Community Brewing, the Massage A Mystic series boasts a strong Belgian-style foundation of flavor with an experimental and playful edge. This "Wood" version is bourbon barrel aged with cinnamon and ginseng for complexity and intrigue.

Deep within its hazy golden aesthetics and beneath its creamy swath of cottony white foam, the calderon of aromas swirl upwards toward the nose with hints of graham cracker, fruit, tea and vanilla. Its taste is supple with honey and dry biscotti before the real challenge begins to rise.

The middle palate is enlivened with sweet honeysuckle and softly powdered sugar- a perfect bed to support the strong eucalyptus and ginsing grassiness that gives the ale a decidedly tea-like flavor. Faint citrus, apple and melon play delicately behind, awaiting the brunt of bourbon that finishes the taste with oak, vanilla, caramel and coconut.

Medium-bodied but trending dry, the strong boozy alcohol spice from bourbon barrels thins the taste and ushers in an evaporative warmth with a mild peppery prickle and a light woodsy tannin balance. Its bourbon finish is not to be denied even as the finish is of ginseng and cinnamon.