
First sip is not nearly as intimidating as I expected. It has the requisite raisin and plum combination and it's definitely heavy with the sweat and tears of the brewers (not literally, because that would be... ewww). It's a bit heavy in general for a sipping beer - that's for certain. The bottle's 11.2 oz (instead of 12) make me suspicious of their motives for making a relatively expensive beer in such a small quantity, especially when the beer clearly needs to be swigged.
Tip-in is a very noticeable carbonation burn coupled with the raisins and some fairly musty hops. The middle arrives with a dry and grainy intensification of the raisins and adds plums with even a bit of caramel. The carbonation continues to burn impressively. The finish brings more of a stab of carbonation with a gentle hint of burnt grains that actually reminds me - for some inexplicable reason - of a particular barbeque place East of Nashville.
Bottom Line: Not a bad tasting beer, but there are others for this price that are better. It needs to figure out the carbonation.
3.0/5