There’s a new segment of fashion called Gorpcore for dudes who don’t hike but overpay for expensive hiking clothes. In emphasizing the rugged aspects, a weird refinement emerges. VSOR is “good old raisins and peanuts” core.

But is GORP authentic?

I was sternly admonished by Ashleigh Carter from Bierstadt Lagerhaus for throwing around the word “thin.” Let’s talk about “perceived viscosity” then. For a solid three decades in beer, hitting efficient terminal gravities was seen as a virtue. Now breweries will get nuked on Untappd by a guy who has never tried Celebrator for “SKIMPING” and having a beer that is tHiN.

You would do well do not listen to redfaced dudes who rock Nike ACG and Arcteryx but hate the outdoors. The intent has to match the execution. VSOR is big but is this a stylistic choice?

The perceived virtues have changed. Now the glucophiles want that pancreas running at full clip with every bottle popped.

Ryeway has traditionally been on the more shredded, lean malt to abv ratio. Lengthy casking can further strip down the perception of THICC values. You’ll often watch maladjusted men overpay for a double barrel stout and then complain that its “thinner” and “hotter” and “needs more time to mellow” when they paid a premium for this.

Now enter VSOR. The R was the less sung hero to VSOJ and true gourmands recognized its value. The prior iteration was phenomenal within striking distance of VSOJ’s near perfection. This batch is still exceptional, extremely well done. However it is wildly different in character.

The heft and slick slide to the mouthfeel is very out of comport with other Deep Woods entries, not in a bad way. There is a sheeting and chewiness to VSORb2 that aligns more with Side Project or Aslin barleywines.

Marty at Revolution almost loves to intentionally strip down the body of these beers to let the expensive casks and patient blending shine. This works in an interesting way. This has a heftier coat, but it doesn’t pang of unfermented sugars. The body gives more surface skin for the cherry cordial, gingerbread, honey roasted peanuts, and caramel pretzels aspects to shine. I will hike for this.