The first sip introduces something smooth and creamy to the palate, but beneath lies something very powerful. Mouthfeel is dense, chewy, syrupy and slick with candied fruits and a massive malty backbone with caramel, toffee and toasted bread. The heat (perceived alcohol) on this one is quite high, with a big 10 percent alcohol spice that melds well with rye bread crust flavors, rounded with berry-like fruit esters that make your heart skip a beat.

The palate is then subjected to a salty, sticky hop resin with a sharp citric edge that smacks of half a pink grapefruit with 10 sugar packets on it (just the way Grandma likes it). Hops character is actually quite complex, continuing with some dry aspirin. Rye and bready flavors become more pronounced in the linger, as the beer dries and sheds a near-carob character across the palate. Alcohol gets a bit fumy and warming. Finish is oily, resinous, herbal and raw.

The beer pours hazed amber, topped with a very tightly laced creamy head. This traps some biscuity tannin aromas for the nose, framed with floral and wood. Very smooth upfront, and a bit creamy in mouthfeel. The malty body flexes with a full and even bready sweetness and doughy and soapy edges. A citric bite throws down on the taste buds with some herbal spice, flower pith, leaf, and some oily stick, with piney notes. Loads of fruit presence, like a fruit mélange of blood orange and grapefruit steeped in a rose-hip peel tea-like character. An aggressive spicy alcohol presence waits beneath, hitting the head with a warming sensation that targets the forehead region and numbness forming in the temples. A deep oak flavor comes about towards the finish, and especially throughout as the beer warms. A very distinct and subdued dry and semi-tangy flavor that is pulled from the oak and is a bit vinous at times, layers this beer with much depth. Suggestions of vanilla as the beer warms, with hints of brown sugar sweetness. Bready and soapy lingers.

Nose shows some clove and banana bread, with a soft wheat-husk background, nutty yeast, hints of citrus and a brush of floral. In the mouth, the beer is smooth on the palate, light and uplifting. The palate is piqued by crisp carbonation and a watery, lemony edge that segues into a slightly grassy wheat twang, with very soft phenolic imageclover-like and thin banana flavors. Pithy floral, nutty yeast, gummy notes. Hops are non-existent, but somewhat expected for the style. Malt characters are weak, lending just a hint of residual sweetness. The finish on this brew is bone dry, with a mouthful of rough and husky tannins and yeast flavors that, unfortunately, linger long past their welcome.