Wynkoop Faens Grüt

Brewed by Wynkoop Brewing Company
Style: Traditional Ale
Denver, Colorado USA

A brown beer with a disappearing head. The aroma is very spicy with ginger standing out. The flavor is also very spicy with notes of ginger, wood, and berries (especially cow berries), leading to a dry end. OK, but nothing special.

On Tap at the Wynkoop Brewery, Denver 29/09/2005 Mid brown coloured and slightly rich on the palate with a spicy aroma. Some dryness in a lasting finish.

Hazy reddish-orange, off-white head cover. Limited aromas, hitting the leafy and piney hoppiness and more intently some spicy anise or cumin tones. Light oxidation notes remind of pennies and apples while strong DMS ruin the rest. Acetic and dull. Not a very good beer, much less a good gruit.

Full name is FAEN gruit! (draught) Fully hazy grey-amber. Slim ring of foam (logical with gruitbier). Peppery, ginger and I really can smell the bog-myrtle. Rosemary - not really, and I have no idea how yarrowroot is supposed to smell. Taste is ginger and medicinal, herbal, spicy - but not off-putting in any way. The spices and all seem to give it a mouthfeel that appears thicker than it really is. Certainly not thin or watery, but not really full-bodied neither. Leaves no spicy aftertaste, strangely. Very interesting - but it will never be a session beer, unless for medieval "poorters"?

Draught. Head is fully diminishing. Body is dark amber/red/purple. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted bread), with a strong note of rosemary. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Light to medium body, watery texture, soft carbonation. Whew, lots of rosemary in the nose, clobbering almost everything else. Surprisingly light on both body and flavor in the mouth.

Poured a copper color with a tight creamy off white head, no lacing. Aroma of spices, mint, and sweet bubblegum. More mint, possibly spearmint in the taste, Also a touch of heather flowers with light bitterness. Hopefully not one of this brewer’s best.

Draught. Pours mahagony with a medium frothy tan head. Peppery herbal rosemary aroma with hints of sage, cinnamon and caramel lightly roasted malts. Sour rosemary malt, fruity flavor with hop notes. Medium bodied and spicy palate.

Again, I’ll use the wife’s quote, who thought it was like a ’warm and flat coke that had been festering in melted ice.’ I thought it had a medicinal nose, and tasted like a bloody mary gone awry. Celery, tomato, strange spices, and other strange flavors exuded. Mouthfeel was watery. Call me inexperienced if you like, but this is one style I doubt I will ever ’acquire’ a taste for (if this is typical of the style, if you can even give this class ONE style). One strange elixir, indeed.