Barrel Aged Week 2012 Day 4 (Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN)

I headed down to Town Hall with a good feeling of success after picking up at case of Stone Old Guardian Barleywine at the Four Firkins.  Plus, wheat wines are relatively rare and a treat when available.  Sadly, Tumaltuous Rare didn't  measure up to my imagination.  Taking a look at my database, it seems that my relationship with Tumaltuous has been up and down--always good and only sometimes great.

Tumaltuaous Malt

Off white head is thin but stable on the multiple pours that were set up for the release at 6 pm.  Hazy orange beer is thick with golden highlights.  Very little nose, even with a swirl--a light wheat spice and alcohol.  In the taste, a fruity center is redolent of apricot and peaches with an assertive wheat character.  Strong and very sweet, the light body is overpowered by the Eagle Rare bourbon.  The end result is pleasant, but unbalanced.    I'm slightly disappointed, but it was more my expectation than the beer.  A good beer, but not up to the standard of others for the week.  

While finishing my second glass, I headed to the back to chat with a bored tender of the bottles of Tumaltuous Rare for those with tickets.  Among other beery items, we chatted about the ticket sales on the previous Sunday for the bottles.  Evidently, selling tickets at 5pm on the same night created a long line and some hard  feelings.  The Sunday sale was an attempt to streamline and organize the sale.  I empathize with businesses attempting to create a desire for rare beers and trying to sell these hotly pursued beers fairly.  While I missed the opportunity to buy the bottles, I'm happy that Town Hall is producing such a fine product and will take solace in the excellent beers I do get to taste.