Hoppy Sour: Amarillo

375 mL bottle poured, purchased at Bottleworks during the recent wave of incredible treats from Almanac to hit Seattle. Poured into my house of sour tulip glass. Almanac sour in the glass is always a good day. Bye week for the Bengals, so I saved the 18th TD of the year celebration rate for this week. Pours a golden tang with a thin fizz head. Both sweet and sour tangerine aroma. Flavor is juicy sour orange up front, with a slightly sweet, in no way bitter, finishing hoppiness. Very refreshing sour, and an intriguing fruit profile. Sourness 7/10. Puckers, but doesn’t interfere with any fruit or hop flavors involved. So happy to hear the progress in getting a taproom open. Will be planning a trip to go down there and enjoy a beer just like this on draft, like I’ve imagined with each and every rate from these guys. Still my favorite after my first few tries a few years back. Another solid hoppy sour for the series. I really hope they go back and redo all of them and the series sticks around. Somehow every time I rate an Almanac beer, the text portion ends up being just as much a rating of the brewer as it is the beer. Their projects just amaze me. The beer is awesome. This one is no exception. Hoppy sour Galaxy next?

375 ml bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 7/29/2016. Pours hazy deep golden yellow color with a 1-2 finger dense white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing cling on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big tart/sour lemon, lime, tangerine, peach, pineapple, papaya, guava, citrus peel, white wine, pepper, oak, hay, straw, floral, grass, light leather/funk, wheat, cracker, and yeast/oak earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of fruity/funky/acidic yeast, citrus hops, wine barrel, and moderate pale malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big tart/sour lemon, lime, tangerine, peach, pineapple, papaya, guava, citrus peel, white wine, pepper, oak, hay, straw, floral, grass, light leather/funk, wheat, cracker, and yeast/oak earthiness. Moderate fruity/acidic sourness and yeast/tannic oak spiciness on the finish; with lingering notes of sour lemon, lime, tangerine, peach, pineapple, papaya, guava, citrus peel, white wine, pepper, hay, straw, and yeast/oak earthiness on the finish for as while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/funky/acidic yeast, citrus hops, wine barrel, and moderate pale malt flavors; with a great malt/sour/spiciness balance, and zero astringent/puckering flavors after the finish. Light-moderate dryness from acidity/tannins, increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/grainy, and acidic/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is awesome. Zero warming alcohol for 6.8%. Overall this is an awesome dry hopped sour ale! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/funky/acidic yeast, citrus hops, wine barrel, and moderate pale malt flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the balanced acidic/tannic flavors. A highly enjoyable offering.

Tap into a shotglass showing lightly filtered apricot with no head. The nose shows pineapple and mango. The palate is light bodied and lightly carbonated. Full flavors of pineapple, mango, and light papaya. Lightly tart and completely dry. This is fantastic.

Bottle. Thanks Jesse! It pours a pale yellow color with a white head. The aroma is grassy with some orangina drink and dank hops. The flavor has more orangina, oak, a little lemon and weed. Subtle notes of funky cheese. No bitterness. Nice mouthfeel. Really awesome stuff.