Style: Barley wine with apple must
Brewery: Stigbergets x Pomologik
Origin: Sweden
Size: 33cl
Alcohol: 10%
Price: 55kr
Systembolaget: –
Stigbergets boiled two thousand litres of apple must for eight hours to reduce it by half, then blended it with a barley wine wort. It was then fermented with white wine yeast and wild bacteria, transferred it into brandy barrels and left it for two years. This was a limited edition batch. Pomologik are one of the biggest artisanal cider producers in Sweden today. Their products are 100% fruit, as opposed to some cider, which can be as little as 15% fruit by law in Sweden. I was curious to see how the marriage between a barley wine and apple concentrate would work, but this went straight into the top 10 beers I’ve tried this year, as it’s exceptional!
This had a lovely deep amber to chocolate brown appearance, with a thin off-white head that disappeared rather quickly. The aroma was absolutely amazing, with massive red apple, calvados, red berries and caramel notes finished with a farmyard funk. The body was so thick, it was almost like swirling syrup in the glass! Those massive apple notes come through to ride over the sweet malt notes without taking away from them. This was as close to a traditional apple pie as you can get in liquid form. The high alcohol was noticeable but never to the detriment of the beer.
This was a great combination of styles, and rather unique at that. Thick, sweet and full of fruity flavour, this was a massive beer that worked on so many levels. I don’t remember ever trying a beer like this before, but I hope I do again. A perfect blend of styles.