Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot

Picked up a bottle of this while on a business trip in Norfolk, VA, and sampled on a quiet Friday evening hanging out with my lovely wife and our "kids".

What do we have here? A Weyerbacher beer that actually impresses me? Damn, is the world ending come the `morrow?

That's actually not fair -- I have had some decent Weyerbacher beers in the past. But for the most part, I've been highly underwelmed with the half-dozen or so offerings I've had from Weyerbacher in the past.

But this one? Quite tasty and worthwhile, I'd say. And I'm glad someone before me had the foresight and the wisdom to list this as an English Barleywine (vice American, that is).

"What's the diff?", you ask? Only in that English Barleywines (read: J.W. Lee's Harvest Ale et al) have a certian more reserved, more restrained feel to `em. They may have the same ingredients as their often heavy-handed American cousins, but in differing percentages, to achieve a more balanced affair in the final analysis.

So how does all of this relate to the Blithering Idiot? Only in that I think this does indeed come across rather balanced and "serene". Very even-handed and mature, in both form and function.

Malty, with enough of a back-end hopping to balnce things out nicely. An appealing malt bill, that gives off some nice estery nuances, without being too distracting or obtuse.

A "straight-ahead" Barleywine, without any American heavy-handedness, or plodding sickly cloyingness too. Could perhaps be a bit more complex, but for my cash, still one of the better examples of the style. I dig it.

//TB