Fireside not included

This year's large-format high-strength Rye River special edition arrived in early October, just in time for the evenings drawing in. They've done us a wheat wine of 10.5% ABV, using smoked malt and aged in tequila barrels, and called it Embers. There's a claim that it's something like a grodziskie though stronger, but it's much darker too, and of course lacks grodziskie's essential refreshing qualities. But I won't argue with how the brewer sees it; here's how I see it.

It took a while to pour thanks to lots of fizzy froth -- not something one usually finds in beers like this. Underneath it's an autumnal auburn, if a little muddy-looking. The smoke is apparent from the aroma, and there's more than a little of the kippery effect I have found, in fairness, in grodziskie, but there's a caramel sweetness too, and maybe even a little of the tequila's greasy spirituousness. It's all very intriguing and alluring.

The dense sweetness is the first flavour element to hit: a syrupy quality, rendered maple-like by its oak overtones. There's a burnt side as well which helps dial back the intensity. The smoke is fully integrated and it doesn't taste as fish-like as it smells. There's an almost peaty richness, even though there's no reason to suppose peat was involved. That's pretty much all you get, though: a rich and thick smoked caramel sipper. I'm not really getting the barrel's contribution to the taste.

On the one hand, it's a perfect wintery sipper, though on the other, pricing it at €25 is a bit severe when it's perfectly possible to get the same amount of decent wine or whiskey to sip by the fireside for that. But I'm a beer person and I don't begrudge them taking on that corner of the market.