Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
When sour titans like Cascade and Bruery Terreux tag team on a beer with an Oregon fruit – marionberries and a California fruit – Meyer lemons, does that mean the resulting beer will be twice as sour?
And do you buy a bottle of the Cascade version and the Terreux version and blend them?
Galaxy Gardens is added to the Barrel Roll series from Hangar 24. Sour + wine barrels + galaxy hops.
Some crazy artwork from the most recent collaboration between Monkish Brewing and Jolly Pumpkin of Michigan. Looks fruity….
Hopefully, some of these bottles will make their way to SoCal.
The bottles of Yearling, Eagle Rock’s American Sour Red Ale may be topped with red wax but they should be covered in gold.
And tomorrow, July 6th you can taste the latest batch of the World Beer Cup 2016 Gold Medal winner. The “beer was aged in red wine barrels providing aromas of plum and sour cherry and flavors of ripe fruit and subtle caramel malt.”
Head over to the taproom for a taste and snacks and revel in the victory. More details can be found HERE.
Didn’t I just talk about Epic Brewing? Yup, but now they are releasing a canned IPA. I know you now think that I am crazy. What is so earth shattering about a canned IPA. Well, this one is Tart & Juicy. A Sour IPA. Combining the red hot IPA style with the orange hot Sour Style. Hopefully it will come in grapefruit flavor.
Personally, a Cuddlebug sounds more dangerous than a Sabre Toothed Squirrel.
But a sour blonde with both peaches and apricots sounds too delicious to pass up. And at $12 a bottle, it is on the easier to purchase side than others on the market.
If you are a stonefruit fan then head to Smog City tomorrow and pick up a bottle or two. And if they have any other sours on, give them a try too.
I must say that I do like currants more than Gooseberries but I am curious as how to either, let alone combined, will work in a sour. But Mammoth Brewing Company has their spin on it for their 2015 Harvest Series. I might just be adventurous to try it.
Rejoice all ye’ patient beer lovers for the Phantom Carriage has arrived! I have been waiting for this day since Requiem Stout from Gentleman Scholar arrived years back. But then Muis arrived and now the full Phantom Carriage deal is upon us in time for Christmas no less.
A great present for LA for sure.
Check it out as soon as you can (preferably with out of town guests) to show off the Bergman Blond sour and their cool cocktails…
..and you get to check out their even more cool glassware….
I finally broke down and brought up a Russian River beer, Supplication. Which the brewery website describes as a “Brown Ale aged in used Pinot Noir barrels from local Sonoma County wineries. It is aged for about 12 months with sour cherries, brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus added to each barrel. Flavors from the cherries, Pinot Noir and oak balance each other nicely with a little funk from the brett.”
This beer has a 100% rating on Ratebeer. So it must be good. Here is my thumbnail review from 2010, “All I can say is TART. A great sipper filled with cherries in every sip. Only downside to me is that it really dries out the tongue. Had to have water handy to re-hydrate.”
The aroma of this beer is big. Kombucha style tartness just fills the nasal passages. This is, for sure, not a gateway sour. There is a bit of pie cherry in the nose but it is second fiddle to the sour.
There is a bit of Sweet Tart powdery sour notes in the first sip. Cherry is there as well. But there is something in the nose that just tastes off. Too vinegary at this point. If you search past the sour, there is a tiny bit of tannic flavor and a smidge of oak. But you gotta hunt that down.
The Verdict? I think this one passed prime and is sliding inexorably downward. The various bugs have gone too far with this particular bottle. Adding one off flavor that upsets the balance.
I was so busy reading the label of this 30 Years – 30 Beers collaboration between Widmer and Gigantic that I didn’t research the beer itself before taking a sip.
Boy, was I surprised because this is a tart and super fruity beer. I saw hoppy on the label and expected IPA but got a sour instead. Once that initial shock wore off, I was quite taken with this beer. Grapefruit pith, mango and fruit punch. Loads of acidity here too. The aroma carries no hint of it. Just barnyard funk. Twice I was lulled into thinking something else was coming.
Whatever position you hold in the craft v crafty debate, this beer should be tasted to be believed. Really top notch.
