Last year Wren House dropped a straight up Illmatic classic with Who Hit John Grand Cru. The multiple BALs and complexity from the mead cask finish was absolutely out of pocket and made the DDB top 10 list. So now enter this Shasta, marshmallow mateys version, JUST mead barrel. I love that we exist in a timeline where ONLY a mead barrel aged stout seems somehow lackluster. No matter what you do, people are going to inherently compare this to the tectonic shifting predecessor. Young Solo is gonna go through the same struggles. This beer is good, it has legit carb for the abv, nice sheeting, the residual sugars are balanced and surprisingly the mead aspect never grips your shoulder in demanding manner. The nose is grape hookah, raspberry preserves, Granache, and tootsie rolls. The mouthfeel is a bit thinner than I was anticipating but it never drops a fusel trap card, despite all the honey rope play. The end result is a beer that is good but simply can’t swing on its ex-military Longshoreman mead father. It’s a good problem to have as a brewery that you made something that people wont shut the fuck up about. Most places want to have this issue. Except prolly IDK Flossmoor station.