2017 Mélange 5 by The Bruery

Rating: 6/6

2017 Mélange 5 by The Bruery is a 15% ABV Hybrid of 90% Old Ale and Wheatwine aged in bourbon barrels with 10% Rauchbier.

Label:
DAMN THAT DBJW

This trip down memory lane is rauch-y blend of our bourbon barrel-aged wheatwine-style ale anniversary ale and smoked beer.

It’s dirty business, rubbing shoulders with friends in the BBQ business. But we’re rolling up our sleeves and revisiting a favorite from an anniversary weekend years ago. Using malt smoked on our friend’s house smoker, we brewed a smoked beer and blended it with our bourbon barrel-aged wheatwine-style ale and anniversary ale. The result is a woody, smoky, blend you’ll want to sink your teeth into.

==Introduction==

Released to Reserve and Hoarders Society, this is the newest entry in the awesome Mélange series of beer. Each one unique using different ingredients mainly including White Oak Wheatwine, their Anniversary Old Ale and/or Black Tuesday Imperial Stout. This time around, they blended a smoked beer adding some different kind of complexity to the beer. So far, I haven able to bring a good amount of these beers to the website and hope to continue the trend. I think there is no doubt in my mind that this series of beers have been nothing but pure exceptional gold. Let’s see what the smoke adds to the already awesome beer, cheers!

Aromas:
Dark fruit raisins, plums, raspberries, smokey oak, whiskey, bourbon, BBQ, honey, marshmallow, pecan pie, waffle cone, flan, sweetened condensed milk, Cadbury cream eggs, capirotada raisin bread pudding, smoked rye bread, nutmeg, oranges, tobacco, vanilla and bacon.

Flavors:
Maple syrup, BBQ, smokey oak, bourbon, whisky, dulce de leche caramel, caramelized bacon, honey ham, vanilla, toasted coconut, oranges, leather, molasses, tobacco, chocolate, Cadbury cream eggs, capirotada raisin bread pudding, toasted coconut, piloncillo sugar cone,burnt sugars, butterscotch, plantains, Belgian Candi sugar, dark fruit raisins, plums, clove spice, anise, coriander spice hints, smoked rye bread, nutmeg, flan, sweetened condensed milk, marshmallows, pecan pie, Raspberry chambord and waffle cone.

Aftertaste:
Finishes with BBQ, pulled pork hints, smokey notes, Cadbury chocolate caramel cream eggs, vanilla, honey, chocolate, and caramel. No alcohol in the taste, hazy orange full body, smooth, chewy, creamy and velvety mouthfeel with a sipping drinkability.

Overall:
An exceptional brew. As, always, very complex like the other Mélanges and the Rauchbier does add some new complexity to the blend that makes it very enticing. Malty sweet and smokey notes to balance. Overall, like the many Bruery beers, it is a dessert on its own. Highly recommended.

Anime Corner:
Inori Yuzuriha from Guilty Crown was chosen in this pairing as I wanted to mainly pair with the colors of the beer with the orange, black and brown colors. It was also an opportunity to bring this character to the Bruery series of beers as I have not used her in these pairings in the past. To prevent repeat characters, it is always hard to find all the needed characters. I think additionally, her colors and traits like complex personality would go great with the beer as well.

Sources:
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