Archive for the category “Sour Ale”

27 Aug 2015

Paradox – Skully Barrel No. 26

paradox8.0% ABV
Purchased at Capitol Beer and Tap Room (16.9 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This “sour golden ale brewed with mango, chili, sea salt, and natural flavors and aged in oak barrels” from Colorado-based Paradox pours a dark burnt orange with a big-bubbled, hazy sliver of foam that all but disappears upon impact with the glass.  The nose offers a sour-y aroma of tart fruits, melons, Pixie Stix, and just a whiff of heat from the chili.  I got a lot more than a whiff of chili on the first swallow, although the lingering burn is balanced well by a salty finish.  More tequila-like lime and cantaloupe and green apple come through than the promised mango flavors, but it’s all nicely rounded out by mouth-coating wine tannins, with the salt continually beckoning you back for another sip.  As is the case with most “hot” beers, a little bit of Skully Barrel No. 26 goes a long way, so splitting a 16.9 oz. bottle between two people is just about perfect.

  3.5 Toasts

 

Parradox

   4 Toasts

 

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, Golden Ale, Sour Ale, Spiced Beer and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
23 Oct 2014

Sourtooth Tiger – The Rare Barrel

sourtooth_bttl5.2% ABV
Purchased at The Rare Barrel and poured into tulip glasses.

This “golden sour beer aged in oak barrels with ginger” pours a pineapple-juice gold with a bright white head, and it boasts a lovely nose of candied ginger, alongside touches of grapefruit and oak.  The first swallow is extremely ginger-heavy, and while that may not be to everyone’s taste, the flavor is strangely unoppressive and the beer finishes clean.  A grapefruit- and lemon-heavy citrus pulp flavor puckers the tongue on the finish, and the beer remains delicious and even throughout, with an overall taste similar to sucking on a lemon drop and a ginger hard candy at the same time.  It should be noted that although the portions were poured evenly, the beer in Darcey’s glass, in addition to being darker, murkier, and less carbonated, was more citrus-forward and less ginger-y than my pour.

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RareBarrel

toasts-4   4 Toasts

 

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02 Oct 2014

Dark Pumpkin Sour – Almanac Brewing Company

almanac_drkpumpkin_bttl

7% ABV
Purchased at Pangaea Bottle Shoppe and poured into mini tasting glasses.

This dark pumpkin beer was aged in pinot noir wine barrels, and it pours a Dr. Pepper dark brown with a tight, soda fizz head.  It has that unmistakable “Almanac sour smell” of sour candy, citrus, wood, and wine, causing my mouth to instinctively pucker, although there is a little extra roastiness on this particular brew.  The fall/pumpkin aspect breaks through on the first swallow, lending an unusual depth of flavor to the beer, with wine tannins, candied pumpkins, and autumn spices coming to the fore.  The taste of red wine settles on to the palette far more impressively than any pumpkin or spice flavors, making this a suitable substitute for red wine with your turkey dinner or fall dessert.

toasts-4   4 Toasts

Almanac_DarkPumpkin

 

toasts-4   4 Toasts

 

Posted in 4-5 Toasts, Beer Review, Seasonal, Sour Ale and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
15 May 2014

Cellar Series: Love Child #3 – Boulevard Brewing Company

Love_Child_No3_bttl

9.5% ABV
Purchased at Final Gravity ($19.99/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This bourbon-barrel aged sour ale from Kansas City-based Boulevard pours a ruby-tinged rust color with a mid-sized beach sand head, and a fair amount of flotsam in the body. Sour fruit aromas sock you in the nose, including SweeTarts, pineapples, tart berries, and red wine.  A big tartness also asserts itself on the tongue, but the beer finishes pretty clean, with grapefruit, slightly immature strawberries, green apple, and even lime coming to the fore.  Some of the barrel makes its way onto the palette on subsequent swallows, but the most accurate analogue to the beer is a sour apple-flavored Jolly Rancher.  We cellared this beer for 14 months before uncorking, and I did not recall it being this fruit-driven and boldly tart in the spring of 2013, nor this distinct and nuanced.  My suspicions were seemingly confirmed by the bottle itself, which includes icons indicating low fruitiness and medium sour-ness, although many Beer Advocate reviewers from the time of release mention green apples, tart berries, and the like.  Either way, this beer is fantastic, and should hold up in the cellar for at least another year. 

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

 

LoveChild

 

toasts-4   4 Toasts

Posted in 4-5 Toasts, Barrel-Aged, Beer Review, Cellar Series, Sour Ale and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
26 Feb 2014

Valley of the Hearts Delight – Almanac Beer Company

almanac_valley_bttl7% ABV
Purchased at Corti Brothers (12.68 oz. bottle) and poured into mini-wine glasses.

This “ale brewed with apricots, loquats, and cherries and aged in used wine barrels” pours a pale, citrus juice gold with a tight ivory head and some fruit flotsam in the glass.  Sour fruit aromas beckon you on the nose, with a fantastic fruit bowl of smells that includes grapefruit, kumquat, kiwi, sour grapes, banana, and even watermelon.  Valley of the Hearts Delight offers lovely tart and sour fruit flavors on the first swallow, but it’s refreshing instead of face-puckering.  Except for the steady presence of oak tannins, all of the flavors are fruity – pulpy pink grapefruit, sour cherries, assorted juicy berries, lemon zest, kiwi, and guava.  This ambitious and brilliant beer hits a wide variety of notes on the palette, and all of them are perfectly in key.

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

Almanac-ValleyHearts

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

Posted in 4-5 Toasts, Ale, Barrel-Aged, Beer Review, Sour Ale and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
11 Feb 2014

Sour in the Rye with Kumquats – The Bruery

bruery-sourrye-kumquats-bttl7.6% ABV
Purchased through The Bruery Provisions (25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into wine glasses.

This variation on Sour in the Rye was aged in oak barrels with kumquats, and it pours a muddy, peachy copper with a vaporous white head.  The somewhat perplexing aroma contains sour candy, a little vinegar, puckering citrus fruits, and oaky wine tannins.  Sour in the Rye with Kumquats has a surprisingly refreshing sourness given all of the elements in play, with the intense kumquat juiciness asserting itself on the second wave of flavor.  Oranges, lemon peels, and papayas are all present on the tongue in addition to the kumquats, and while the rye never emerges as an independent flavor, it does seem to have imbued the citrus flavors with an extra intensity.

toasts-4   4 Toasts

SourRye-Kumquats

toasts-4   4 Toasts

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09 Jul 2012

Mo’ Betta Bretta – The Lost Abbey/New Belgium

6.15% ABV
Purchased at Davis Beer Shoppe ($7.99/12.7 oz. bottle) and poured into flute glasses.

His Notes:

This collaboration between California’s The Lost Abbey and Colorado’s New Belgium pours an opaque lemony orange with a tight white head and plenty of bubbles in the body.  Mo’ Betta Bretta has a nose that is pleasant but lacks distinction, combining the expected smells of tropical yeast, fresh grains, and a little faint funk.  The first swallow is a little flat, and has a taste much like a standard blonde ale with some wild yeast added to the mix.  There is some semi-sweet melon on subsequent swallows, but I was not a big fan of the skunk-funk aftertaste.  Perhaps it would have fared better in a blind taste – this is a fairly refreshing, summery brew, but not the Collaboration of the Titans you would have hoped for.

  3 Toasts

Her Notes:

  3 Toasts

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08 Jun 2012

Sweet and Sour – HaandBryggeriet

7.5% ABV
Purchased at Davis Beer Shoppe ($8.99 /16.9 oz. bottle) and poured into red wine glasses.

His Notes:

This barrel-aged sour blend from Norwegian brewer HaandBryggeriet (they also brew the sublime Hesjeol) pours a bright, peachy orange with a slight, bubbly, bone-white head and a fair amount of sediment.  Sweet & Sour has a pungent but inviting nose of fermented grapes, citrus zest, sharp yeast, and tart berries.  The beer’s sourness is initially disguised by the ripe orange and sweet melon flavors on the tongue, but it’s the lemon and Sour Patch pucker that dominates the back end.  This absolutely delicious brew is an ideal introduction to sour beers for the uninitiated, but it’s also a remarkable refresher for hardcore fanatics.

  5 Toasts

Her Notes:


  5 Toasts

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