Brewery: Burning Sky Brewery
Country: England
ABV: 9.7%
Style: American Wild Ale
Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our wild black beer spent 18 months in oak before being aged for a further 6 months on local elderberries. The result is reminiscent of a deep, earthy Burgundy.
My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.27
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1
Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled on 15th February 2021, and with a best before date of 15th February 2031. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice deep dark purple colour with a two finger purple head that had good retention and left some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, dark berries, raisin, earthy, oak, woody.
Taste: Lightly sour and tart, dark berries, blackberry, blackcurrant, raisin, earthy, woody, oak, a touch of chocolate, with red wine vinous notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I’m not sure what elderberries tastes like, but there’s lots of good dark berry flavours here. There’s a good balance of fruit, dark malt, earthy, woody and vinous that gives it good complexity, and the ABV is also well hidden, such that you don’t notice it at all.
words of another dreamy traveller 