Tallboy & Moose X Beerfarm ‘Green Muse’ Wormwood Dubbel

Rating:

“Green Muse 6.3% ABV Belgian Dubbel w/ Wormwood collab. with Beerfarm (WA) – Business in the front, party in the back…this brew takes a classic Belgian style offroad (with monster-truck tyres on the Ute). The fruity esters and sweet malts greet you as expected and then this beer throws a curveball. Wormwood, often used in absinth and other aperitifs sweeps through with a bold cleansing bitterness. All up the Green Muse presents on the drier side, and rewards many sips with complex flavourful refreshment.”

Glassware: Trappist Chalice.

Appearance: Pours an attractive deep ruby red with light mahogany hues. Just a short off white head comes together but dispersed just as quickly. Nice wavy lace as we imbibe.

Aroma: We wanted to review this literally coz we were fascinated at how the wormwood would be presented. We love Dubbels as well so we guess it wasn’t the sole reason! Classic semi rich malts meet the olfactories instantly followed by the rather savoury and sage-like herbals, peppery spice, earthy notes, subtle toffee and honeysuckle. It does have a kinda green tea character to it as well. Smells good.

Flavour: It comes on with a well tempered malt sweetness but it’s very short lived as the hallmark bitterness of the wormwood kicks into gear. First the peppery and earthy herbal flavours then the abrasive bitterness takes hold. Burnt toffee and toasty malts counteract a little but not enough as it surges into an extremely bitter finish with a delicate malt sweetness on the flank.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and sticky initially then dry and a little coarse in the swallow. Medium body, mild-moderate Co2. The 6.3% ABV is nicely poised.

Overall: Our only other experience with wormwood until today was with good old Absinthe so it’s safe to say the memories are fun (and a little hazy) but the palate wouldn’t say the same. In this case the sweet malts save it from a similar fate. The positive is we can say we’ve tried it.