Eunuch Brew Gruit Ale
Great Lakes Brewery

My experience with gruits has been fairly limited, but I have enjoyed the ones I've come across, and the idea of using alternatives to hops is one that intrigues me. Great Lakes have only recently got into cask brewing, and making more experimental beers in general. Producing a cask of a hop-free beer is certainly adventurous, and I applaud them for their ambition, but I feel that this one is perhaps a little to ambitious for their current capabilities.

Disregarding the flavour for now, this beer performs well in all other sensory categories. The pour is dark brown, verging on black, with a wispy white head that lasts the duration. The aroma has some strong pine notes (I understand spruce was used in the brew), and a strong underlying fruitiness that reminded me of Heather Ales Ebulum gruit, which is made with elderberries. The body is also where it should be - medium-light with a restrained cask carbonation. While none of this particularly wows me, its difficult to find any specific faults to criticise. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the flavour, and this is one of the most unpleasant beers I've come across. A straightforward sip reveals a berry-esque fruitiness, a hint of smoke and a piny bitterness. Really not too shabby, but again, nothing exceptional. The problems begin when the liquid hits the back and sides of the tongue, where an overwhelming inky bitterness kills everything else dead. Its certainly bitter, but not in the pleasing way of an IPA. This is an acrid, inky bitterness that lingers on the palate for an unpleasantly long time. I can only really compare it to the time I idiotically sucked some ink out of my fountain pen.

This is all really too bad, and from speaking to a few others I'm not alone in my opinion (though I was alone in actually finishing my glass). The brewery is learning new styles, and a new technique of storage and serving, so growing pains like this can be expected. Give em time and I think they'll nail it, hopefully when they do they'll revisit this style and erase my memory of this gruit.

2009 Volo English Cask Fest. Dark coloured body with a whisp of a head. A fir and floral aroma, powerful for a cask. Average mouthfeel, 50 IBU, and it taste C-hopped in addition to lavender tips. Drinkable, but a sipper because of the bitter complexity, somewhat astringent finish.