Bottle Logic Brewing (2019)

Arcane Ritual was showing up on OC shop Insta feeds on Sept 3 so might still be around.

 

AR is showing up on the Total Wine site at a few different stores (Brea & Laguna Hills). NC is pretty much gone everywhere.

 

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

Nobody hyped for bananas? Say what you will that it’s a crappy adjunct but the Other Half 5th Anniversary banana version was insane! Hoping BL can capture some of that magic and deliver a home run!

 

Have had a few outstanding banana stouts lately, including one by Kane and the CCB/BL collaboration.

 

It may end up being good and usually I’ll give BL the benefit of the doubt. But they lost me with mead barrels.

 

Yeah I haven't really enjoyed anything touched by mead.

This ain't Mead Advocate so I'm just going to come out and say it. Stuff smells like urinal pucks. Fight me.

 

What other BL beers have been aged in mead barrels? We've had a few stouts locally aged in local mead barrels, it helped add the flavors originally added to the base mead (one was key lime the other bananas fosters), but also imparted original oak and whatever spirit was aged in the barrel first.

I'm not a huge fan of mead, but I hate braggot for real. Some mead can be quite tasty but not something I'm going to drink at home on the regular. It all depends on the honey, and then the additions. Honey can make drastically different kinds of mead, including rotting compost flavors that people pretend to like.

 

Iridium Flare
Strong Ale brewed with honey and marionberries and aged in bourbon barrels. Collab with superstition meadery. 13.9%

I thought the berry flavor was good in it; however boy was it hot and heartburn in a bottle!

 

I absolutely hated that beer. Tasted like melted popsicle or cotton candy cough syrup to me. And yeah, super hot. But I also hate most braggots.

That wasn't aged in mead barrels was it?

 

forgive my ignorance. i'm up north. "NC" (= Number Crunch - right?) are you saying no because it didn't go to distro there or no because it's unlikely anywhere would still be sitting on any of it?

 

Aged in bourbon barrels, but I believe mead was added.

 

Sorry, yes Number Crunch. Essentially all Bottle Logic sees distro, the amount depending on the size of the release. But Number Crunch went pretty quick once it hit distro. Arcane hit distro recently and Barleywine doesn’t usually move as quickly.

 

Yes, of course. This is BA's description of Braggot:

Braggot
With references dating into the 12th century, Braggot was historically made by blending spices and herbs with mead and beer. Many taverns would make this blend right at the bar, though brewers would also blend them as well. The ultimate goal is a beverage with perceivable honey and beer qualities (meaning malt, hops and/or yeast) that compliment each other, though not necessarily equally present. Ideally, there should be a balance between the honey character and malt flavor with the hop bitterness not overpowering the sweetness while remaining noticeable.

That's entirely different though. Adding mead is a great way to ruin beer, IMO.

Aging a solid beer in a mead barrel--and even then only some of the aging appears to be in mead barrels for Equivalent Dose--probably isn't going to be disastrous. Depends on the mead and the original spirit aged in the barrel for the most part.

 

Just a follow up to this. Based on IG posts, it looks like AR has hit the South Bay/Beach Cities today.

 

Bananas are gross

 

anyone seen drops of picture if you will, in LA?

 

Looks like BlackBeard's has it (as least as of last night).

 

I don't think it will be as good as the OH 5th banana or Nana's from 3C. Mainly because the BL base is so chocolate forward and rich that the banana flavor will probably get lost. I think that's why they added mead to offsite that deep dark rich chocolate flavor in an effort to lighten the beer a little. I will be getting my member bottle, but haven't decided to get extra until after I taste it on tap tonight.

 

Equivalent Dose is pretty good. The banana flavor isn't overpowering and tastes pretty natural.

Thank god it's not like banana Runts.