Beer – #955 – Yeastie Boys – xeRRex
Yeastie Boys – xeRRex. The beer Club beer of the week. I’ve had the normal version a couple of times, and it really is a shock to the system, this is smoked ale overload, if you don’t like whiskey then this is a beer to avoid, if you like Whiskey you’re going to be challenged.
a self-indulgent celebration
330ml bottle that is 10% ABV and that’d be 2.6 standard drinks of a beer, 300 calories that is. At 50 IBU this would be more like a bitter end of a stout sort of thing.
For the Yeastie Boys this one was brewed at Invercargill Brewery in the style that comes under : Smoked YB Are in based in Wellington, New Zealand
A celebratory beer by Yeastie Boys.
While the use of peat-smoked malt in a beer isn’t especially unusual, the received wisdom is to include it as a small percentage of the malt bill. The Yeastie Boys aren’t really ones to heed ‘received wisdom’ so they decided to make the world’s first beer with 100% peat-smoked whisky malt from Inverness
They said it couldn’t be done, that it would be undrinkable and, to be fair, many of them still do… But we like to do our own thing.
This one-off batch of imperial-strength Rex Attitude is a self-indulgent celebration of being awarded the Morton Coutts Trophy for Innovation at BrewNZ 2011.
Dedicated to all the peat freaks who have let us know how much they enjoy Rex: your love helps us through the hate – thank you.
So, What could possibly go wrong? Madly I chose the most obtuse glass I could think of, and I was thinking crystal tumbler that I’ve had a dram or two out of, but no, I thought lets get the fill aroma experience. Honest I don’t even know myself sometimes.
The initial aroma on opening isn’t that bad, and oddly I thought it was more soapy than peaty, or perhaps they meant carbolic and not formaldehyde in the tastes?
Pour is darker golden, nearly brown and there wasn’t a head, it’s a bit like a fizzy whiskey. In the inappropriate glass the aroma is again rather understated smoked peat malt, but honestly again I thought of carbolic or strong industrial cleaning soap.
Taste is on the other hand rather exciting, there is a lovely softness and sweetness that rides under that top bitterness and although the lingering taste is that malty peaty thing this brought a bit of a smile on.
Loving this actually, I think tat this, from memory, seems to be a much more rounded and mellow delivery of that smoked peaty malty thing, and I think that the soft sweetness is wonderful.
It’s let down though, for me, by that aroma that I can’t quite nail, but it isn’t whiskey and it really is a bit antiseptic. It’s a thing not a show stopper.
The show stopper is the lovely softness and smoothness that this has, and how easy it was to finish the bottle.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 8 of its things from the thing. This is rather nice, and a much pleasanter experience than I was expecting, I was taken by the softness and sweetness, and that the bitterness was pleasant level, and the lingering taste was warming and of whisky added to the whole. Didn’t so much like the aroma though.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? Beer Jerk NZ, the beer club
- Am I enjoying it? Yes, surprisingly
- Would I have another? I would this is nice beer.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I would for this version that is rather pleasant and nice drinking with those things already mentioned, sweetness, easy bitterness and that lovely lingering smokiness in the mouth.
Music for this: ” Oh Wonder ” and their new album “Ultralife ” On the Spotify
Oh Wonder are a London-based alt-pop duo, consisting of Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West.
SMOKED
The classic smoked beers hail from Bamberg in Franconia, Germany. These are made using malt that has been smoked over beechwood. The insistent smokiness may be applied to any lager style. In North America, the same technique has been used to make smoked porter. Whiskey malt beers are made using peat-smoked malt.
A life just as ordinary 