The Brew SiteWidmer’s latest Brothers’ Reserve: Prickly Pear Braggot
You all remember the Cherry Oak Doppelbock which was the first in Widmer‘s new(ish) Brothers’ Reserve series, right? Right. The #2 release is out now, and it’s a doozy:
Prickly Pear Braggot. Our friends Paul and Sandi brought this one over last weekend, and I’m pretty sure it’s the first commercial beer I’ve seen that is a Braggot (also Paul’s contention) and/or is brewed with prickly pear fruit. (A Braggot is essentially half mead, half beer—that is, it’s brewed with roughly equal portions of honey and barley malt.)
It’s a 10% ABV sipper, with a airy fruit character over a sweet and lightly-hopped body. Definitely interesting, and I’ll need to try another bottle for a longer review, but I suggest getting to the beer store and picking this up if you can. You may not run into another Braggot again outside of homebrewing circles.
Beer Advocate lists 40 braggots, including a few that made it into bottles. Here in Oregon, Lompoc did one last year, and apparently sold a few bottles of it (maybe only at their pubs). I tried that one on tap and didn’t care for it, but it sounds like this one might be a winner.
I saw the BeerAdvocate listings also, so there are a few out there… I think if you tend to like meads, you’ll be more disposed towards a Braggot. But I could see it not being for everybody.