Mar 14, 2017

The Bruery Nine Ladies Dancing

Each Winter, The Bruery releases a limited, Belgian-style brew as part of their Twelve Days of Christmas series. There have been some truly excellent products in this line — Five Golden Rings was a Barley Blog HQ favorite. For their latest Winter celebrations, Nine Ladies Dancing, the company was inspired by tiramisu and ladyfinger cookies.

The Bruery has included cocoa nibs, vanilla, coffee and lactose in this big big Belgian-style strong dark (11.3% ABV) in an attempt to capture the flavors of that dessert. Unfortunately, the elements here don’t really seem to want to play well with one another. The Belgian yeast competes with the roast malt while the lactose dominates over hints of vanilla, cocoa and coffee. All of the ingredients are present, but not in a cohesive, singular focus — each competes for your attention much to the detriment of the overall drinking experience.

I was a bit bummed about half way through this beer. I was hoping that it would come together a bit more as it warmed, but unfortunately, Nine Ladies Dancing continued to provide a muddled flavor. Maybe some cellaring will help the flavors meld a bit more, but seeing as how this was the only bottle I purchased, I’ll never find out. At least I still have a bottle or two of the Five Golden Rings to look forward to next Winter.