Art Brew: Baby Anarchist (England: Mild Ale: 3.2% ABV)
Visual: Reddened brown, massive ripe banana yellowed head. This beer pours very enthusiastically and leaves lots of sud rings.
Nose: Eggs. Sulphur. Hops. Funky yeast.
Body: Bitter. Malt chocolate. Pineapple. Cadbury’s crème eggs centres. Red wine notes at back, Cherries. Vanilla. Lemon sherbet and apricots.
Finish: Bitter hops. Eggs and mayo. Popcorn. Lots of dry bitterness. Malt drinks. Light citrus tartness and dry earthy hops. Vanilla. Crab apples.
Conclusion: This said to pour carefully and it wasn’t bloody kidding. Despite my careful efforts the head filled nearly half the glass with froth on first attempt. The first impressions, well first impressions after finishing the pour, were that it was slightly odd of aroma. There is quite an eggy sulfur tone that I’m not a hundred percent sure if it is an intended part of the beer or a mishap. Sulphur can be used as an interesting element in moderation, but it feels out of place here.
The main boy packs a good bitter punch and some nice tart notes that calls to the British interpretation of a brown ale, however overall it doesn’t really come together. There is a lot of elements, some citrus, some tart, some malt drinks, lots of hops, lots working in the beer, but none are really particularly prevalent and they don’t come together into any real narrative of experience.
Ok, there is one character throughout the beer, the fairly rough edged hop character, but it doesn’t have much charm to it. You can get some nice apricot and lemon flavours late on which helps, but you can’t rely on them. What is most fun is probably the back notes, the vanilla, chocolate and the like, but they never last long enough against the hops to catch the imagination.
Not terrible, tries so hard and pushes out so much, but a disappointing return to Art Brew. Guess I’ll just have to sink my sorrows with the beloved I Beer. Ah well.
Background: Art Brew used to be one of my regular brewers beers, back when they ran the Royal Oak. Back then the Oak was bloody awesome, and my usual hang out. Last I checked it was still ok, but had nowhere near the rotation of taps, nor as good atmosphere as back when Art Brew ran it. Ah well. Still, now you can get them bottled from Independent Spirit, it seemed a good time to return to the old friends and experience them anew. Drunk while listening to some History of Guns….again.
