Two by 8 Wired

Saturday night I decided to open two bottles my wife had picked up a little while ago when she was in Massachusetts. They were from a brewery named 8 Wired located in New Zealand.

The first I opened was their smoked porter, The Big Smoke.

I'd say this was well carbonated but that would be an understatement. I needed two glasses just to be able to pour it and it still took me like 30 minutes to get what you see above. Fireplace nose, smoky. Started with some sour fruitiness, sort of unexpected, then the roast and smoke come into place. Quite a smoky aftertaste as well. As I drank more, though, the odd fruitiness became more and more prevalent and wasn't super pleasant. Honestly, this could have been mildly infected based on the ridiculous carbonation and odd sour fruit flavor. Ah well. It was at least drinkable even if it wasn't great. And, yes, if something is even mildly drinkable, I will finish it. No drainpours for me.

After that I opened their imperial stout, iStout.

Tons of dark fruit in the nose, quite sharp. Thick mouthfeel. Again starts off slightly odd although this wasn't infected, just odd. Initially I got licorice, roast, and some citrus or something followed by more of the strong dark fruit flavor. The dark fruit eventually overpowered everything though making it very one note. I kept hoping it would become more complex but it never came together.

It's a shame but neither of these were particularly good. Maybe The Big Smoke was infected but the iStout didn't do it for me either so maybe it doesn't really matter. Some people seem to enjoy them based on reviews though I wouldn't suggest anyone buy them. Sorry 8 Wired, maybe next time.