The Bar Towel

snorristurluson wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on the Barn Owl releases? Just wondering if I should buy 4 or not?

Barn Owl #1 was delicious. I tried this when it was on draft and was thoroughly unimpressed. It ends up being a bit of a weird mishmash and overly hoppy for the sour style. I'm going to give this release a pass or get at most 1 bottle.

I love sours, so I'm always apt to buy whatever I see. I think I'll pick up a couple.

snorristurluson wrote:I love sours, so I'm always apt to buy whatever I see. I think I'll pick up a couple.

This one is not nearly as sour as you would expect FYI

Why would anyone expect Barn Owl Blend #2 to be sour?!? It is a brett pale ale.

I had the GLB X Bellwood's Brettalica yesterday. It was okay. Nowhere near as tasty as Pit Caribou's Session Brett IPA.

BakaGaijin wrote:Why would anyone expect Barn Owl Blend #2 to be sour?!? It is a brett pale ale.

I had the GLB X Bellwood's Brettalica yesterday. It was okay. Nowhere near as tasty as Pit Caribou's Session Brett IPA.

Well, when I first tried it on tap, they told me the 20% component was 3 year old Grandma's Boy...that was certainly a sour (and delicious beer). Sadly they wasted it blending it with what is a somewhat bland brett pale ale.

I tried the Pit Caribou's Brett IPA after a trip to Montreal. Just picked it up in the grocery store there! It was much nicer than Bretallica. Bellwood's own beer Brettalhead is much nicer than the Bretallica as well. It's not a bad beer, just don't know that I would pick out the brett had they not told me.

For some reason I thought it was a proper sour, must have mixed it up with something else. Perhaps I'll skip it.

Barn Owl #2 does indeed contain Grandma's Boy, and does have a sour component to it. I had it when it was briefly on tap a couple of weeks ago and thought it was terrific. Similar to Motley 2014 (which I adored) in the combination of Brett and dry hopping. Surprised to hear such lukewarm reactions as I personally thought it was quite a bit better than the first one.
Ren

jrenihan wrote:Barn Owl #2 does indeed contain Grandma's Boy, and does have a sour component to it. I had it when it was briefly on tap a couple of weeks ago and thought it was terrific. Similar to Motley 2014 (which I adored) in the combination of Brett and dry hopping. Surprised to hear such lukewarm reactions as I personally thought it was quite a bit better than the first one.
Ren

Glad to see some people are enjoying it. I guess when it comes to sours, brett, and dry-hopping there are a variety of different taste preferences. For me, the dry hopping detracted from the beer. It was also partially expectations…I had loved Barn Owl #1 so much. I personally would have just called this a different beer, because I couldn't taste any connection to #1.

I agree that there isn't any taste connection. I don't think there is meant to be. Barn Owl is a series of blends, which I gather may well be wholly different from one another. Whether using a common name is a good marketing approach or not is another matter.
Ren

jrenihan wrote:I agree that there isn't any taste connection. I don't think there is meant to be. Barn Owl is a series of blends, which I gather may well be wholly different from one another. Whether using a common name is a good marketing approach or not is another matter.
Ren

Bellwoods has taken the same approach of "different blends, different beer, same name" with their annual Motley Cru. We'll just have to remember which one of the series the Barn Owl blends are!

I thought Barn Owl 2 was some serious swamp juice when it was on tap. I think it needs a lot of time to fade out some of the already mellow flavours, there was just too much going on.

So they have officially run out of beer in the bottle shop the last two days and it has been closed. It is re-opening shortly today with (supposedly) Jutsu V. 5 in stock.

napoleon wrote:So they have officially run out of beer in the bottle shop the last two days and it has been closed. It is re-opening shortly today with (supposedly) Jutsu V. 5 in stock.

Sounds like it's the final jutsu which is a derivative of v5?

DeMarco wrote:

napoleon wrote:So they have officially run out of beer in the bottle shop the last two days and it has been closed. It is re-opening shortly today with (supposedly) Jutsu V. 5 in stock.

Sounds like it's the final jutsu which is a derivative of v5?

Yes, this is according to their blog the final version. It's quite good, although I think I preferred V. 4 better. There is a malt backbone which at times sticks out just a bit more in the final version than in a few of the predecessors. Still a very nice summer beer. Super fresh right now as well.

yeah, having the new v5 right now.
I'd have to say that v4 is my pick as the best of the bunch as well... but, since this seems to be a beer that they'll consistently produce I think they'd have trouble sourcing the Nelson hops of the v4 year round.
Anyhow, this v5 is very good and definitely my favourite of their ale/ipa lineup.