Beer – #1,118 – Small Gods /8 Wired – Desperate Glory

 I’m having a Small Gods /8 Wired – Desperate Glory beer, recent winner in the New Zealand New World Beer and Cider awards, so this is available in stores in New Zealand .

A beer I did originally have, and that was recently enjoyed by my friends at a gathering I had, and I missed out, or don’t remember having this, mind I was having some other rather goods beers at the time.

Small Gods /8 Wired – Desperate Glory is brewed by the Small Gods (NZ). Small Gods / 8 Wired Desperate Glory is brewed in  Auckland, 🇳🇿 New Zealand in the style that is a Sour Flemish Ale – Flanders Red / Oud Bruin and is a beer of 8.0% ABV.

Desperate Glory is a sour brown ale inspired by Flanders Fields. The base beer is Three On A Match, a rich and complex Belgian Amber Ale with notes of dates, brown sugar and sweet spice.

This spent a year resting in bourbon barrels to bring out rich oak and vanilla notes alongside a complex, funky tartness.

We then carefully blended this with Chinese Keemun tea to add a light floral character with hints of tobacco and unsweetened cocoa.

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Wilfred Owen – Dulce et Decorum est – 1918

So, What could possibly go wrong?

A lovely pour of a dark reddish brown beer with a head whiter that you imagine, a wonderful aroma of sour sweetness in the glass.

This has a softer sourness about it, and for me a lot of wine like notes, a quite fruity and excitable range of flavours, all in a good way. There are less obvious notes, like the vanilla which seems to be a support role and not dominant and then there’s the intriguing noticeable flora notes that you can’t quite pin down.

There is no surprise that this is an award winner of a beer, a proper well constructed aged sour, done slowly and will care, again not a surprise given both the brewers involved, you’d expect. nothing less.

As to this being slightly higher than a ‘normal’ beer, at 8%, well that’s not obvious at all, there’s no hint or indication of alcohol tang or burn in this, a beer that is an easy sipper.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. There is so much to enjoy in this, fruity, delicate sour, lots of floral and interesting notes that develop and envelop as it a warms a cracking and brilliant beer.

The double dip review

• Where did I get it? The local Liquorland of course but it’ll be in the New World stores
• Am I enjoying it? It is singularly gorgeous
• Would I have another? I’ve had this before and will again.
• Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I have 🙂 it’s a beer that everyone should enjoy.

Music for this:   Well I can tell you it’s some Pink Floyd and the album The Wall. I was listening to this in the week on headphones but wanted to listen on the crackling vinyl I remember buying back in the day

 Sour Flemish Ale – Flanders Red / Oud Bruin

The Flanders Red Ale, also known as Flemish Red Ale and Belgian Sour Red Ale, is deep red/burgundy to reddish-brown colored, sour, fruity, red wine-like Belgian-style ale with interesting supportive malt flavors and fruit complexity. The dry finish and tannin makes it more wine-like than any other beer style. Similarly, the Oud Bruin, also know as Belgian Sour Brown Ale is a dark reddish-brown to brown, malty, fruity, aged, subtle-sour Belgian-style brown ale. A deeper malt character distinguishes the Oud Bruin from Flemish Red ale. The Oud Bruin is less acetic and maltier than a Flemish Red, and the fruity flavors are more malt-oriented while the Flemish Red have more of a fruity-tart profile.