The Brown Paper Bag Project, an offshoot of L. Mulligan Grocer the pub, had this brewed at 't Hofbrouwerijke in Belgium as a tribute to local animation studio Brown Bag Films. It ended up being the Project's last packaged beer, and some time after the Project itself was wound up, bottles were still appearing in my local supermarket. After a few weeks of looking at them, I rescued a handful, thinking they might age well. Today we start finding out how accurate that was.It still has the beautiful sour-sweet cherry aroma enticing the drinker in. The flavour is very much cherry driven, still tasting fresh and real after all this time. For the first few sips, it tasted much as I remember the beer originally. Could it be so robust as to undergo no change at all? No. I think this has mellowed somewhat. It was never a vinegar bomb as such, but I think age has left it less acidic and more fruit-forward. Something for us all to aspire to. There's a black pepper spice too, which I think is new. There's no oxidation, no autolysis: no off-flavours at all.
I'm taking it that this is a beer still on the upswing, and I find myself wishing they'd done it in 75cl bottles. Tempting as it is to lash into my remaining bottles, I think I'll leave it a while before the next one.
