When Red Duck's Ugly Duckling first appeared, people scratched their heads: "A braggot? What's that?" It was Australia's first commercially released braggot, a beer style with origins in Medieval Britain that is a blend of a mead and a strong ale. The Ugly Duckling was a very high ABV and unusual beer, but one that has ended up heralding a series of braggots from the Ballarat brewer, from those featuring buckwheat to highly honeyed versions. The Grizzly is, by our reckoning, the fourth variant and features a blend of a new batch of mead with some of the yet-to-be released Blue Monday, a Belgian tripel that the ever-reserved brewer Scott Wilson-Browne describes as "one of the best beers we've ever made". The Big Belgian Braggot tips the scales well over 10 per cent and elicited this description from Scott: "Amazing. Balanced, yes. Forgettable? No!" Expect honey and funky Belgian esters.
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