Boris is back, and that’s a good thing. There’s a straightforwardness to this beer that allows the drinker to meet it on Boris’ terms, which for most WA drinkers was always the dark, belligerent, odd-one-out in Feral's Swan Valley brewpub tasting paddles... “People drink this?”
There's no concessions here. You like it or you don’t. However, it’s a relationship that grew over time and, like all great romances, ended up created a faithful following. As such, while times have changed, Feral have stayed true to the beer's nature, sticking with the OG Russian-inspired name and stylings, only slightly masking the label’s worker with a faux wax seal announcing this as the 2020 edition. And they’ve not messed around with the beer either. This is a classic that may deserve a barrel-aged iteration, and most certainly a canned package, but there’s no need for pastry-esque adjunct excess here.
Instead, there’s layers of roasted malt, espresso, mocha latte, milk and dark chocolate plus some faint figginess in a beer that runs bitter and dry. And, while the mouthfeel is leaner than previous vintages, there’s still plenty to enjoy, which is to say Boris 2020 keeps it simple and honest, a policy that still might be, in true Boris style, too much for some drinkers.
Guy Southern
Published June 3, 2020 2020-06-03 00:00:00
