Monday Night Brewing Laissez-Faire

Monday Night Brewing Laissez-Faire is an American Wheatwine aged in Cabernet barrels, 12% ABV. I got a chance to try this on draft a few months ago, but it took me a while to hunt down a bottle of this Black Tie Series beer to sit down with and review.

The wine barrel seems to be adding a tremendous amount of character to the appearance. A lovely red tone is added to the presumably medium caramel colored beer. The aroma is doughy sweet with some strawberry jam slathered on top. Sweet honey, toasted sweet bread, caramel, and a little bit of red wine (which comes through tasting like Welch’s grape juice) from the barrel make up the major taste profile. The finish and aftertaste is woody, dry and bitter. This seemed a bit out of place with the actual taste at first, but it grew on me before too long.

This one was a bit rough around the edges for me, but well worth a try if you are a fan of the style. I’d be curious to try the base beer before it went into the barrel as well, seems like it would be a solid Wheatwine on it’s own.