Day 3: Chateau Civrac Old Ale

Chateau Civrac Old Ale

Origin: Penpont Brewery (Launceston, England, UK)

Style: Old Ale

ABV: 7.5%

IBU: Not Listed

Description: My initial thought was: I wouldn’t have made this beer.

To make an old ale means subjecting a beer to elements we know are adverse to producing a drinkable beer – mainly taking a beer and storing it in a wooden barrel. HELLO!! You can’t clean or sanitize wood!!  Wood has cracks , cracks hide bacteria, bacteria infects beer. Second you’re exposing beer to oxygen. O₂ spoils beer in minutes and here you are exposing it for a year! Sure sure, some CAMRA trainspotter in Sheffield may geek it out but really, you made a spoilt beer.

Screwing a beer up this bad takes talent and I mean talent. However…

The head of this Penpont Old Ale pours out a lovely thick creamy top and stays in place due to a constant stream of bubbles. The nose offers up wafts of steamed wood staves, dark fruits and a mix of red licorice and red apples. Mouthfeel gives over with prickly but fleeting carbonation and making way for the big tannans. Black tea and light body play the mid pallet where upon dry malt and slight toffee come round for a brief visit.

I said I would’t have made this beer. It’s because I can’t! This is the work of a brewer who not only goes beyond knowing his trade but also sits with the ghosts of brewers past and smiles that smile of a thousand years. Keyser Soze lives and I have tasted his work. ~C.B.