Mebier Tasting Notes

I brewed this adambier at the beginning of the year with the expectation that the beer would undergo some aging before cracking it open. I kept it in the fermentor for a couple months and then another three months in the bottle before busting them open. The recipe was loosely based on the early Hair of the Dog Adam recipe in Barleywine from Brewers Publications. Having tried HOTD's Adam since brewing this beer, it is not too far off the mark minus my version's lack of minerally peat smoke flavor that dominates HOTD Adam.

Appearance: Dark reddish brown with a light tan head. Clarity is good but might be a touch better if I had fined and/or lagered the beer. The head is tight and laces slightly.

Aroma: Caramel, toffee, apricot, grain, molasses and cherries dominate but the aroma has whiffs of other stone fruit and berries.

Flavor: Much of the same flavor as the aroma but the caramel and grain character is more prevalent. It is a touch sweet but not cloying. The beer is smooth and mellow, from aging, although there is a lot going on in the flavor.

Mouthfeel: Moderate body and extremely smooth. It is deceptively smooth for a bigger beer.

Overall: Overall really happy with the beer. I wish I had obtained better efficiency on this batch and I would have liked it to dry out a little further. I used S04, which is less attenuating than S05 or some of the other English strains, but that is something else I can tweak in a second rendition. I definitely want to make some minor tweaks to the recipe and rebrew but I will try it out with a strain with better attenuation. I'm not sure how much flavor the yeast drove into this batch so I may have to pick out an expressive but attenuative English strain to keep the flavor profile similar but with better attenuation. I like this beer enough that I am strongly considering it as a contender for a new blending/sour project going forward.