Cascade Brewing - Strawberry 2012

Cascade says: "This NW style sour ale is a blend of wheat ales aged in oak barrels for up to 12 months, then aged on strawberries for an additional three months." Cascade doesn't distribute through established channels as far as I know, but they do ship to several US states via online orders. Of course for in-house only beer, you'll need to have a friend in Portland, OR -- what a handy thing to have! The Strawberry is available online, so this one was just ordered through their website shop.cascadebrewingbarrelhouse.com.

Appearance: This looks like a strawberry beer! It's an inviting pink-red color, with a foamy, effervescent head. It may seem obvious to say that carbonation is effervescent, but lambics and sours do, in my opinion, offer a distinctive type of head on the top of the glass that appears so immediately refreshing.

Smell: There is a strong breadiness as well as an oaky presence. The strawberry is there as well, and a lactic sourness that isn't overwhelming but definitely apparent.

Taste: Here, I was expecting a lot more sour. And don't get me wrong -- it is sour, but I was expecting more. There is only a slight funkiness with the tart, and the sweetness from the strawberry even seems a little subdued compared to the bready body from the wheat and yeast. Others who I tried it with did get a more strong sour character, so maybe my palate was a little off, but it was just less than I expected.

Mouthfeel: This beer comes across as fairly light-bodied, which is interesting, since it's being pulled in a few different directions. In the first place, it's dry and effervescent, which makes for a light body, but since as I mentioned the taste comes across as very bready and full, that gives the illusion of thickness to the mouthfeel. Still, overall, it's more refreshing than not.

Overall: I really like Cascade sours, but this may be my least favorite of the ones I've tried. I wanted more strawberry and more sour, but I think a lot of sweetness that the strawberries may have contributed got lost in the wheat base. It's still a really tasty, drinkable beer, but Cascade makes such knockout beers that this one fell a little short.

3/5

New Glarus - Thumbprint Enigma

New Glarus says: "A few times a year we cut Dan loose to brew whatever he chooses. Always handcrafted, the bottle you hold is brewed for the adventurous soul. This is a very limited edition and we make no promises to ever brew this style again.

A complex and intriguing original. The mystery began with wild yeast spontaneously fermenting a rich treasure of malted barley and cherries. Unlined Oak casks breathe deep vanilla hues and chords of smoke into this sour brown ale. Our Master Brewer has forged a smooth garnet tapestry that defies description. Wander off the beaten path."

That just about does it, no? This sour brown ale is 5.5% ABV and was sent by a friend.

Appearance: This is a densely carbonated, clear, garnet-red beer that initially pours off about 1 finger in head. The head then recedes to about the level you see in the photo and eventually down to nothing.

Smell: So complex! Sour notes of apple, cider vinegar, raspberry, cranberry, oak, and vanilla.

Taste: Wow -- this is complex, like the nose, incredibly well balanced, and has subtle flavors that play with each other on the palate. I get cherry, oak, a bit of sweetness, some spice -- it's overall reminiscent of tart cherry pie.

Mouthfeel: I usually think of sours as being very light bodied and heavily carbonated. Despite looking that way, Enigma drinks creamy, super smooth and dense, and the carbonation actually feels very light. This is a nice surprise. Generally I like the lighter body in a sour, but drinking this in the winter made me appreciate the denser character as it added perceived weight and warmth.

Overall: This was a stellar beer and I'm sorry I didn't get more of it! I couldn't believe the complexity of scents and flavors, and everything melded really well together. I don't have a lot more to say -- this was incredible and if they ever do make this again, I want a case of it.

5/5

Russian River - Beatification (Batch 5)

Beatification is a 6% American Wild Ale, aka a "sour beer," and specifically the type of sour beer that is spontaneously fermented (more on that below.) It's an incredibly complex process to create these, and Beatification is a rare offering from Russian River that only comes out every few years. It's a brewery-only release, so you (or someone you know) need(s) to go up to Santa Rosa, CA to get it.

You may be able to read from the label that this beer is 100% spontaneously fermented. This basically means that they didn't rely on controlled amounts or strains of brewers yeast (typically S. cerevisiae) to ferment this beer. Instead, the brewed wort (pre-beer) is left to the open air, so any old kind of bacteria or yeast can get at it. A particularly infamous type of yeast, Brettanomyces, flourishes in these conditions, and this yeast, along with bacteria Lactobacillus and Acetobacter, will create sour flavors as byproducts of their fermentations. What is usually a kind of scary thing is, in this case, encouraged, and many batches of these soured beers will usually be aged for many months, and then blended together until the brewers find a mixture they like. It's an acquired taste for many, but these beers often take on characteristics closer to wine (minus wine being sour) and as such have become lauded for their complexity -- and deliciousness!

Appearance: Light, clear honey caramel, with tons of active, visible carbonation. The head is small and pours initially about 2 fingers tall but recedes quickly to a thin layer of foam that is kept continuously active by the ever flowing carbonation.

Smell: Oak, vinegar, funky leather/tannic quality from the Brett, some lemon and grass.

Taste: Definite tart, sour funkiness from the Brett! Some acidic qualities as well, with lemon, a distinct woodiness, and some smoothing herbal flavors on the back end. Overall, the taste has a lot more kind of straightforward, clean sour flavors, while the nose carries a bit more of the barnyard funk.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation is intense and noticeable, but the beer on the whole is very light-bodied and has a wonderful, dry finish. LOVE that dry finish.

Overall: This is a sour lover's sour. It's SUPER tart, but with some great citrus and earthy notes. I love how it feels to drink -- so light and refreshing, but there is such power in the taste. I'm drinking this bottle somewhat fresh, but this will be a fun one to hang onto for a bit to see how it continues to develop in the bottle. What a great beer!

4.5/5

New Belgium - Lips of Faith La Folie (2011)

The bottle says: "Seriously sour, this Flanders-style reddish brown ale was fermented 1 to 3 years in french oak barrels for mouthpuckering perfection." It's 6% ABV. I often forget that outside of the beer geek world, the concept of sour beer is unfamiliar and even off-putting to most. In truth, even after I'd been exploring craft beer for a short while, I really didn't like sour beer at all. Now I've come around and find it to be consistently complex and refreshing. Unfortunately, sours are time- and space-consuming to brew and are therefore usually limited releases and/or expensive. New Belgium's La Folie, an annual spring release, is priced at around $15 here in Southern California, but at least they give you a 22oz big bottle.

Appearance: Mahogany (brown with a reddish tinge,) a modest head of 1-2 fingers that recedes fairly quickly and doesn't leave any lacing behind. There is a thin ring of foam still on top of the beer, but not much other evidence that the head was once there.

Smell: Tart dark cherry, tannin/leather, earthy wood and funk. Overall it's sharp but not abrasive.

Taste: Much like the smell, the taste is funky cherry and oak. It's crisp and tart, with some definite leathery/tannin presence in there as well, but it's not off-putting in any way. Behind the tartness, there is actually a bit of a sweet character, perhaps from the fruit, or a touch of vanilla?

Mouthfeel: Light and dry, and the sourness definitely does make me pucker a bit! My mouth is watering too. It seriously feels so, so light. So perfect for sitting in the backyard -- crisp and refreshing, as sours often are.

Overall: I haven't reviewed a lot of sours on here yet, but I can say that especially for the price point (again, $15 for this size bottle is actually pretty damn good) this is a top-level sour. It's full-tasting and complex, but it's not heavy on the palate or in the stomach. If you see this around, definitely pick it up! Its wide availability should make it easy for anyone to acquire, should they be interested in trying out sours, and it's a great example to start out with.

4.5/5

New Belgium Lips of Faith - Clutch

The Lips of Faith series beers frequently includes collaborations between New Belgium Brewery and another brewery. Clutch is a dark sour ale, and the collaborating group here was the Maryland Hard-Rockers. It's 9% ABV.

Appearance: As promised, Clutch is dark -- opaque cherry-black. Though I wasn't able to snap a photo quickly enough to capture it, a thick three- to four-finger head gathered when poured. There is minimal lacing on the glass, and both the full head and the residual head are a dark cherry brown color.

Smell: A chocolate-covered cherry lollipop. Seriously. On the nose, there's not a lot of evidence of sourness that I expect from the taste. It's  simply a very sweet smelling beer that has a smidge of coffee character at the end.

Taste: Now here is a beer that tastes exactly how it smells -- the first to hit the palate is rich dark chocolate with cherry, followed by a short but pronounced coffee note. There is a bit of a sour funk that comes through right at the finish, but it is very, very mild.

Mouthfeel: This is a thick, viscous beer, very similar both in taste and physical character to a stout. It's really much more reminiscent of a stout overall than of a sour ale, which it is supposed to be.

Overall: This is no doubt a tasty beer, but I have to say, I'm still kind of disappointed. It's basically a less sweet version of Stone's recent collaboration on the Cherry Chocolate Stout (which I'll review here at some point,) and given that it's billed as a dark sour ale and not a stout, I was expecting something completely different. There is, as I said, a bit of funk at the end, but honestly, if I wasn't expecting a sour, I may have just as easily thought that the very slight sourness at the end was just residual bitterness from the roasted malt/coffee flavors. I have another bottle of this that I'll hold onto for awhile to see how the flavors develop and change, because as of now it doesn't really live up to what is promised on the label. Though, as I said, it's not a bad tasting beer, it's so far my least favorite of the Lips of Faith series.

3/5

Eagle Rock Brewery - Equinox

Young Sour Ale, 5.4% ABV

Appearance: Light straw in color, clear, minimal head/lacing -- possible that some carbonation has been lost in the growler that would have provided a thicker head.

Smell: White wine, funky, green apple, vinegar

Taste: Apple really comes through -- apple cider vinegar is a close approximation taste-wise but the beer is actually light and not harsh at all like drinking vinegar would actually be. As it's a "young" sour, it is not very full-bodied, but for beginners to sour beers this may be a good introduction, as it's light, mild, and very drinkable. Not a lot of malt character, which is nice here because for me I think too much sweet/sour would have reminded me of Warheads candy or SweetTarts.

Mouthfeel: It's very refreshing, and if the beer has at all gone a little flat from growler transport/keeping, it does not affect the mouthfeel at all. It's light-bodied.

Overall: This is a nice, clean, refreshing beer that Eagle Rock is smart to market as a "young" sour, since understandably it's a bit thin in complexity. It's a great beer as we transition into summer from spring, and I'd easily imagine myself drinking it on the beach.

3/5