Longwood Brewery- Old Bruin

Longwood Brewery- Old Bruin Review

Portuguese Madeira is famous in the wine world for its unique warm aging process. Historically, Madeira was used as ballast on ships which exposed it to heat and changed its flavor. Later on, Madeira was intentionally heated to create the same effect. This warm aging gives Madeira it’s unique flavour profile. Supposedly, it also makes it incredibly long lasting, with open bottles still being drinkable years later and closed bottles theoretically being immune to going off.

So what happens when you apply the same warm aging to beer? Longwood Brewery has found out with their Old Bruin, part of their Sour Series. Old Bruin is an opaque dark brown color and has a nice big tan head, especially for a sour. There is lively carbonation and a bit of lace. The aroma has good notes of acid, cherries, and chocolate. It is very clearly aged with delicious notes of oxidation, including leather and tobacco. It has a smooth balanced acidity and mellow maltiness. There are notes of caramelized sugar and also some dark fruit jamminess. Old Bruin finishes nearly dry with some nice aged port notes. The tartness seems to change throughout the swallow. This beer has excellent character and cascading complexity.

One big question is how Old Bruin will age. It is likely that it will age very nicely and is a good investment for your cellar.