Hawkshead: Wild Beer: Oat Wine: Cider Brandy Barrel Aged (England: Barley Wine: 9% ABV)
Visual: Deep hazy dried apricot darkened body. Moderate dark brown bubbled head.
Nose: Oily and apples. Hop oils. Stewed apricot. Alpen – with raisins and sultanas emphasised. Dried banana. Raspberry tart notes. Syrupy.
Body: Raspberry. Malt chocolate. Fudge. Apple syrup. Vanilla custard. Hop oils and accompanied bitterness. Alpen. Peach.
Finish: Apple syrup and hop oils. Malt chocolate and fudge. Dry oats. Vanilla and vanilla pods. Raisins. Spicy rum. Greenery bitterness.
Conclusion: Oat Wine! Apple filled oat wine! Now, the original Oat Wine collaboration didn’t really grab me. This is similar, but the cider brandy ageing has had an interesting effect.
That base muesli style and those apricot fruit notes, are still there. In fact the pre hop styling greenery bitterness is kind of still there as well, but leaning towards a more hop oil evident character here.
What is added is a sweet syrupy character, very apple flavoured – though very artificial tasting due to the sweetness. It made me think of apple ice cream syrup, if there is such a thing. I have never encountered it, but if it does exist I would imagine it tastes like this.
Does the beer work? Hmm. Well, while artificial feeling, the sweetness of the apple adds a strong note that does help the beer early on. It adds an easily identifiable element at a point where the base beer was struggling to find itself – this strong character added to the Alpen like base does help sooth some of the flaws.
Later however it does become kind of wearing – the bitterness and oats mix in a slightly leaden fashion. However, overall I will say it is a slight improvement. It still feels like it doesn’t really do enough to leverage the strength of the oat style, but the early,bright, moments are pleasant.
Still weak, but less weak than before. At 9% abv kind of ironic, no?
Background: Not an auspicious start for this one. I had grabbed it at the same time as the standard Oat Wine, a beer which didn’t really impress me. Then I was warned by one commenter to avoid the Cider Brandy barrel aged version. Which I already had. Fuck. Ah well, I oft go against common consensus on beers so let’s give it a go anyway. Drank while listening to New Model Army: Thunder and Consolation. NMA are such a great band.
Alcohol And Aphorisms 
I love that you do music pairings! Never heard of the beer, or the band, so I’ll have to check both out. Thanks for the article!
Are you in the UK? Man, I gotta get over there. Is the craft beer scene booming? I’m from NYC and it’s really starting to explode over here! Cheers!
Thanks for the kind words. New Model Army are fricking awesome – Another Imperial Day,I love the world, and One of The Chosen, are some of my favourite tracks if you want to check them out.
I started to mention music pairings to help give an idea of the kind of atmosphere when I was doing tastings as beer is so subjective that even that could influence the notes IMHO – I will admit I do also enjoy sharing things I love, kind of why I do the blog.
Wild Beer Co does export a few beers to USA these days so you may find them – Ninkasi is a personal favourite of mine if you happen to find it.
I am indeed UK based – we have had a good real ale scene for a long time now, but the craft scene has just exploded over the past five years. Based on the states I have travelled to I wouldn’t say it as prevalent as in the USA yet but there are new breweries popping up everywhere, imported beer ranges is getting wider and wider, and the more popular craft breweries are really breaking into the mainstream. I doubt you will be disappointed if you get a chance to drop this side of the pond.
Thanks for writing back! Check out my blog if you have the chance! I’ve only just started, but I’m trying to focus on my experiences with beer, and not just the beer itself. Thanks again!
Will check the blog out. Good luck and welcome to the beer blog world 🙂