Short’s Brewing The Wizard

Before I begin, you should know that this beer is one that was very much a love it or hate it beer for us.  The Wizard is a barley wine which typically is a higher alcohol, richer tasting beer, and is not necessarily for everyone. Usually we can come to some type of gentlemanly agreement on our reviews, but on this one we had ratings from 3 to 6 and nearly a fisticuffs match.

Ow, my crystal ball!

The Wizard is a beautiful beer to pour with a rich dark brown with a hint of amber. It is topped off with a thick layer of tan head. Thus far all our group is in agreement, but once we started taking in some of the deep scents, we started diverging into differing opinions. It had a variety of smells including: hops, dirt, nuts, citrus, raisins and dates. As we moved forward to our tasting, we encountered many of the same things found in the aroma. This is also when the debates began. Here is a mere smattering of quotes heard around our table:

“I hate Rob for bringing me this beer to drink.”-Jer (Ed. Love you too Jer.)

“Uncomfortable mixture of hoppiness and sweetness.”-Crane

“Rob must love this back end.”-Jon

“Rob Approved, AKA Jer hates it”-Rob

It has a hoppy taste that is accompanied by a raisin sweetness. It is a very smooth, but also bitter taste that sets up shop and lingers a while on your taste buds (Ed. “Lingerer!”) . It has a heavy mouth feel that makes you aware of the alcohol content and is similar in feel to a porter or stout.

It most certainly is a rich beer with many complex aromas and tastes and will be enjoyed by some but it may not be for everyone. We have discovered this first hand with some of us really loving the full rich tastes and others being overwhelmed and not caring for it. If you are partial to big tasting full beers, this should be a must try for you. If you don’t tend to care for rich beers, it might be one to avoid.

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