Only a new brewery this one. We picked this bottle up on our way out after visiting the brewery in Marrickville, Sydney.
Served in a beer tulip the mat black pour produced a thin brown head that slowly collapsed to a rim of foam around the inner edge of the glass. The aroma initially offers up strong and essentially strange wafts of fresh pear, apple and brine. Undertones of vinegar, oak and vanilla are quite cloying and even after taking on board the fact that this is a barrel aged, it’s way too sweet for a stout. The mouth feel is oily and slightly thin with mild carbonation. Medium body. Upfront a tart, almost phenolic flavour has us screwing our faces up. Syrupy hints of pear and brine are really disappointing and to be honest, quite distasteful. It’s sour, tart and sweet….far from what we were hoping. These are not flavours we look forward to when drinking a stout, especially a barrel aged. To be honest this is a pour out. Absolutely horrible. This review does not reflect the rest of this breweries range, which is really disappointing because every other beer we tried at the brewery was delicious. It’s almost like they’ve messed up big time and bottled the wrong brew.