Beer Review: The Bruery’s 6 Geese-A-Laying

Brewery: The Bruery
Beer: 6 Geese-A-Laying
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
ABV: 11.5%
Character: Brewed with cape gooseberries
Metal Connection: HIRAX – Broken Neck

BeerMetalDude Rating: 5/5

Living in the heart of Texas, here in San Antonio, it is difficult to get beers from some of the awesome breweries from other states that do not distribute to Texas. Sometimes, it’s who you know that will get you far in this craft beer world. I have had a few other beers by The Bruery in bottle shares at my current job, but this was the first bottle I could call my very own. I want to thank my good friend, Jorge Espinoza (brewerianimelogs.wordpress.com) for this hook up.

Every Christmas season, The Bruery is to release a beer as part of their “12 Days of Christmas” series. Keeping the titles of each beer in the tradition of the song lyrics, we have seen a Partridge in a Pear Tree, 2 Turtle Doves, 3 French Hens, 4 Calling Birds, 5 Golden Rings, and now 6 Geese-A-Laying. Later this year, we should be seeing a release of 7 Swans-A-Swimming. I look forward to that one. I really wish I could get a hold of the older ones, so I could have the entire bottle collection.

Poured into a tulip style glass from a 750 ML bottle, this beer appeared a hazy reddish brown color, leaning more towards red. It was crowned by a finger wide beige colored frothy head. Spotty lacing was left down the glass during this session.

There was a lot going on in the nose with this beer. As this beer is a Belgian-Style Dark Ale, the Belgian yeast characteristics show up, with a hint of banana, peppery yeast. There is a small amount of clove and spices that show up behind an abundant bouquet of dark fruits like figs, and plums. There is a sweet but tart grape-like presence, I’m assuming from the cape gooseberries used in this beer. The backbone aroma is of roasted malts.

The taste of this beer is just as complex as the aroma. Dark fruits like plums and figs hit the taste buds first, followed by a bready, peppery, spicy taste. Again, the backbone behind all the exotic flavors is full of roasted malt flavors. The gooseberries make their appearance at the end of the swill, leaving a sweet, but tart grape-like flavor. The aftertaste is this mixed with the banana-like flavors from the Belgian yeast.

The body is light, but leaning more towards a medium feel. There is light carbonation. The mouthfeel is creamy. With the addition of the gooseberries, the grape-like presence of these berries make this beer have a slightly dry finish, like a wine, almost.

This beer was wonderful! I loved the complexity of all aspects of this beer. The color was a unique reddish tone, the aroma and taste went in all directions. The mouthfeel was something I wasn’t expecting. I have never eaten a gooseberry, so a lot of the characteristics I picked up on that I tied together with the added fruit is based upon
what i read about the gooseberry. I am curious to taste this fruit on it’s own. I really wish that I would have been in the know about the “12 Days of Christmas” series from The Bruery, as I have missed the first 5, but I do look forward to gathering up on the next 6 in this series.

Metal Connection: There was no band or song that came to mind to pair it up to a beer called 6 Geese-A-Laying. If you can think of one, please let me know! I ended up going with a band who hails from the same area as The Bruery. I am talking about the California thrashers, HIRAX! Hirax have been melting faces in the Thrash Metal scene since 1984. Well, technically, since 1981, but they were another name then. They became Hirax in 1984, so this is where this legacy began. They have released 5 full length albums, a crap load of EPs, demos, compilations, and live albums in between each album. The song chosen here is one of my favorites from them. It is called “Broken Neck, and it is from the 2009 full length album, El Rostro de la Muerte, released on Black Devil records.