Free State Eccentricity (2009 Release)

Brewed by Free State Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Lawrence, Kansas USA

Good lambic like aroma with some dill pickles and malt on the nose. Thick tan head, brown body. Rich and creamy with some cider and vinegar flavors. Dryish duration. Woody. Rich. Pretty good.

I hate the fact that FS teases people with this beer but doesn’t release till Friday when all the beer geeks have made there trip out. Luckily I happen to live in Lawrence. Unfortunately, I wish they had made more of this, so I can drink it all the freaking time. A snifter pour at the brewpub that is completely murky, I mean cannot see through it at all. Its all brown and thick, very dense looking. The head, oh the head on this thing, khaki colored and super strong, never fully subsiding. Aroma is BAM! All up in you. Its got sour brown rotting apples with lots of alcoholic grape and some melon. The alcohol accentuates the fruitiness and it becomes a cavalcade of craziness. You could feel the strong malty and yeasty Belgian aspects have been overtaken by some alcoholic barrel and sourness. Taste has a similar alcoholic spike with some effervescent sweet brown sugar with a heavy apple skins aftertaste. Layer of flavors playing off of each other. The mouthfeel was just ok, I was hoping something a bit thicker and slicker (more like their Owd Macs). I was blown away by this beer, highly impressed, I wish I could drink this again.

Snifter from the tap at Free State’s 20th Anniversary celebration. A blend of different aged barrels. Smells good- definitely Belgian with fruit more evident when agitated. Hints of the whiskey are coming through. Deep golden with a solid white head. The taste was a wonderfully unique surprise, so many of my favorite styles all in one- heavy Belgian yeast, wonderful tartness that almost pushes toward sour, some standard Belgian spices but they’re hard to identify as the barrel aging which gives the beer a barleywine quality. (Maybe they aged some of this in barrels that previously aged the Ol’ Backus?) So much going on here, incredibly complex. Tart cherries, grapes, alcohol, maybe a bit of lemon. I don’t know that i would have guessed this was a wheat if i didn’t know it. The palate is great, too- nice tingle with creaminess and the heavy feel of alcohol without the burn on the way down. Very unique- i’ve never had anything like it. There were umpteen other beers on tap but i opted to just have another of these. Glad i did because it ran out on the next glass (it lasted less than two hours.) Hoping they have more of this hidden away. Now i just have to figure out who to bribe to find out when it will be tapped.