The Bar Towel

Near the Waring House outside of Picton. Small tasting patio just off the main road. Their staples haven't improved, but a couple of their one offs were decent, and their Indoor Voice was quite a nice cream ale/IPA mix.

I had a fun experience with one of Barley Days beers recently.

I did an online order from these guys last summer. All around solid beer. I order at least two of each; I'll try anything.

One of these beers was called "Beach N' Wheat Reloaded". It was their wheat beer with cucumbers. I'm not the biggest fan of cucumbers, but like I said, I'll try anything twice. I had the first one and the cucumbers were off-putting to me. I won't criticize the beer, I just know it wasn't in my taste range. I then left the other one to sit in my fridge like a neglected red headed step child.

Fast forward to this year, I have a friend over on a hot summer day and I tell them to pick what ever they want out my beer fridge for us to split. Out comes this Beach N' Wheat Reloaded...

To my recollection, I've never had an aged wheat beer. We took a sip and were met with an interesting flavour profile: PICKLES. Who'd a thunk it? An aged fermented cucumber beverage ended up tasting like pickles. Surprisingly, it was rather refreshing. It reminded me a bit of shooting picklebacks, but better.

If they release the reloaded version again this year I'll likely end up doing another order and intentionally save some for next year.

I have a NB cucumber beer that's been in my cellar for at least 3 years. Wonder if the same thing will happen. Only one way to find out...

Interesting, although it sounds a bit like sloppy brewing practices since it suggests some sort of souring bacteria got into the cans- I've sat on wheat beers before and they typically don't sour with age. I wonder if there were some wild yeasts on the cucumbers; I've heard of fruited beers re-fermenting in the can/bottle (and sometimes exploding, unfortunately)

That said, it sounds like it worked out and if it tastes good, it tastes good.

They did a one off Irish stout that was on tap at a few pubs in the area that was surprisingly good years ago. Cant say I've had any of their stuff since