Wet Hop Black American Barley Wine & Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
ABV
11.6% & 12.9%
Well … this is certainly a different way to use fresh hops. For many brewers, the annual hop harvest means IPAs and hazy pales but Good Land Brewing have instead gone big and dark with a black American barleywine. What’s The Damage? saw the Traralgon brewery make a short drive down the road to fellow Gippsland outfit Hudson Hops to secure fresh Cascade and Chinook flowers. In their relatively short life, Good Land Brewing have excelled at big beers and this one is no exception with a reality-defined balance at the heart of any otherwise intense beer. Those fierce flavours include coffee, burnt sugar, roasted malt and dark chocolate while the hops have a punchy citrus aroma that turns the incredibly rich beer more into jaffa territory. There's also a more spiced side at play as if the beer's been introduced to rye whisky and while that might all sound like too much I'm going to repeat myself here and say once again, that it's shocking how integrated those flaovurs all are.
Speaking of excelling at such beers Gezellig has also made a welcome return. The barrel-aged imperial stout secured Good Land an Indies trophy in 2022 after it was released for the brewery’s first birthday. This year’s version sits a little bigger than the original and was made with bourbon barrel's from Breckenridge Distillery which bring and oaked and slight sweetness to the beer. Joining in is chocolate syrup, treacle and a more fruity finish that brings to mind candied banana.
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