Hello and welcome back to the Eternal Hoptimists,
Now we all love a Mince Pie this time of year, but a mince pie beer?.. We Have handed this one over to Mark to investigate!..
I am quite a sucker when it comes to a barrel aged beer and also a barley wine so when we received our festive beers for review and this one hit my inbox I was like……phwoar! I have been impressed by many of Elusive Brewing beers in the past so let’s see if they can continue to impress me with their festive offering that promises mince pie flavours along with 12 months aging in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels.
Come on then, let’s do this!
1. Name : BA Mince Pie Barley Wine
2. Brewery: Elusive Brewing. (Finchampsted, Wokingham)
3. Hops : Not Stated
4. Grain : Barley, Orange, Lemon, Mixed Spices & Yeast
5. Aroma : Aroma is of festive spices with candied peel and the bourbon barrel present. Certainly, gives off characteristics of a boozy mince pie.
6. Appearance : Pours a ruby/bordering on black with light bleeding through the glass. Massive fizz of carbonation when poured, this soon dissipates leaving no head.
7. Body : Medium to full body with a good mouthfeel
8. Taste : The first thing that hits the palate is the strong alcohol with the lovely Heaven Hills bourbon barrel flavours initially dominating. This then makes way to the festive spices and candied peel that bounce around the mouth giving off vibes of taking bite after bite of a boozy mince pie.
I had high hopes for this, and it is safe to say that it didn’t disappoint! This is a very cleverly brewed beer that works extremely well with all the promised flavours evident throughout every mouthful. With each mouthful I took, I got more and more from this whether this being the beautiful Heaven Hills bourbon to the festive mince pie flavours, it all just worked!
It has been refreshing to see that in recent years there are more of the breweries associated with quality dipping their toes into the festive waters and it is even more refreshing to see that they are pushing the boundaries rather than producing the safe and often gimmicky options that many of the larger breweries do at this time of year.
Elusive Brewing has produced a beer of quality here that is a great one to show off to friends over the Christmas period, however if like me, you will want to keep this one all to yourself.
Mark’s overall rating: 4.1 / 5.0
The|Eternal|Hoptimitsts 