Review: Four Winds Norwood Barrel Fermented Dry-Hopped Farmhouse Ale

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since my visit to Vancouver, where I checked out an insane amount of breweries in a very short period of time, with one of the breweries being Four Winds Brewing in Delta. Four Winds was definitely one of my main highlights of the trip so when I heard that their beer was coming to Quality Beer Store in Winnipeg, I had to pick some up as soon as I could! Unfortunately for me, every beer geek in the city was just as giddy about picking up Four Winds as I was so their selection was limited when I made a quick stop - and I'm certainly not going to frequent Winnipeg especially in the year of COVID. Thankfully for me, a good friend of mine managed to pick up a four pack of Four Wind's Norwood Farmhouse Ale.

Norwood (formerly Norwegian Wood) is fermented warm with traditional Norwegian Farmhouse yeast, Kveik. Norwood is aged in oak barrels and conditioned with Brett C. Hopped exclusively with Enigma and rounded out by Naked Golden Oats, this ale sings brightly with notes of citrus, pineapple, and a hint of Brett funk, while balanced by a pleasing mineral dryness. 5.5% ABV

Appearance: Murky with a bit of a dark orange body to it. Good amount of sediment in the body that floats around but mostly near the bottom. While I was going to say there's no noticeable carbonation in the body, once I actually looked really close to the beer I noticed a good amount of carbonation taking place immediately below the head, with the head having a thick amount of frothiness and a beige hue to it. The head diminishes gradually and leaves behind a very minimal amount of lacing on the glass.

Aroma: Barnyard funky as expected, though not over the top. Quite a fruit-forward Farmhouse with notes of apple, pear and a sharp tropical presence of pineapple. Notes of lemon, yeast, saddle and rich oak. Tad tart but mostly from the Brett with the pineapple complimenting it.

Taste: The first thing I get at this point is how dry this is. Well, most Farmhouse Ales are going to be dry, but this one is even more so than some. There's a bit of tartness in this beer, notes of lemon, apple and pineapple. There's a bit of barnyard funk, a mild oakiness and a slight hint of butterscotch popping up. The aftertaste is pretty much just the yeast, a bit of a funkiness lingering for a bit.

Overall Thoughts: Solid Farmhouse Ale, funky as expected with a sweet tropical presence of pineapple.