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whiskyfun.com
October 24, 2019
This is clearly one of those LOL-bottlings that could make a brick wall convulse with laughter, if you ask me. Nothing against Belgian stout beer, naturally. By the way, we’re still waiting for that Chichibu surströmming cask… Or a durian finish, or elderberry wine casks, or whelk soup wood… Colour: gold. Nose: menthol and sour wood, that’s bizarre. Old butter, rhubarb wine, humus, patchouli, mould, kombucha (hey, a kombucha cask, ideas ideas…) … With water: rugby changing room. Yeah, hockey too. Mouth (neat): it’s kind of good, but it’s nasty. Akin to strawberry and mustard, chocolate and ham, or vanilla and soy sauce. Makes you scratch your head. Again, it’s not that it’s ‘bad’, it’s just that the great malt whisky plus the (probably) great bear create a feeling of… that’s hard to describe… perhaps of a tiny ex-soviet republic’s national liqueur? Made out of fermented reindeer milk, gunpowder and local herbs? With water: oh, what a recovery! Much better, albeit a tad too oaky, sour, and beerish for me. Nice sour/fermenting citrus. Finish: rather long, a kind of blend of sourdough with citra hops and lemon juice. Tannins in the aftertaste. Comments: I understand the hype, but I do not need this and find the baby, err, superfluous. Edition 1, anytime. Pst, I’m sure you could get empty Alsatian sauerkraut barrels for pretty cheap!