Montmorency vs. Balaton
(has 3 batches)
Jester King Brewery in Austin, Texas, United States 🇺🇸
Sour / Wild Beer - Flavoured Rotating|
Score
7.86
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Montmorency vs. Balaton is our barrel-aged wild ale re-fermented with Montmorency and Balaton cherries. These distinct cherry varieties that are sourced from our friends at King Orchards in Michigan lend their own unique flavor to the final beer. We create a blend of mature barrel-aged beer, add the cherries at a very high ratio (5lb. per gallon), then let the fruit re-ferment to total dryness. To us, we feel "MvB" has a perfect blend of bursting pie cherry flavor and aroma, dry drinkability, and elegant tartness.
Balaton® is a registered trademark of Michigan State University.
Balaton® is a registered trademark of Michigan State University.
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7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle @ Himmeriget. Pours red with an offwhite head. Aroma of light sourness, little yeast, sweet and tart cherries, almonds, light cinnamon. Flavor is light sour, wood, cherries, almonds, oak. Medium body, soft to average carbonation, light acidic finish. 110517
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 May 2017
at 12:26
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
Imported from my RateBeer account as Jester King Montmorency vs. Balaton (by Jester King Brewery):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 14/20, MyTotalScore: 3.5/5
18/IV/17 - 1Pt. 9Fl. Oz. bottle @ American BBQ Guy Tasting (ElManana+1's place) - BB: n/a, bottled: VI/2016, bout 3 (2017-465) Thanks to Stephen and Kim for sharing the bottle!
Clear bright red beer, small creamy white head, unstable, bit adhesive. Aroma: lots of cherries, sweet candy smell, some almonds. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: soft acidity, fruity, lots of cherries, some tannins, bitter touch. Could certainly pass for a Belgian kriek!
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 14/20, MyTotalScore: 3.5/5
18/IV/17 - 1Pt. 9Fl. Oz. bottle @ American BBQ Guy Tasting (ElManana+1's place) - BB: n/a, bottled: VI/2016, bout 3 (2017-465) Thanks to Stephen and Kim for sharing the bottle!
Clear bright red beer, small creamy white head, unstable, bit adhesive. Aroma: lots of cherries, sweet candy smell, some almonds. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: soft acidity, fruity, lots of cherries, some tannins, bitter touch. Could certainly pass for a Belgian kriek!
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Apr 2017
at 17:07
8.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle, shared with friends. Pours clear ruby red, a bit hazy as you get deeper. Small off-white head with a tinge of pink, some residual and lacing. Aroma is cherries for sure, JK funky bugs, wood tannin, more cherry skins. Flavor is light tart and light plus funky. Medium body, soft carbonation. This is excellent.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Apr 2017
at 17:27
8.8/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 9
Batch 1 bottled Jan 2014, drunk 10/10/16.
Lovely cherry pulp-beige-golden body is topped by a small, but dense, pink-flecked head. High clarity leaving plentiful sediment behind.
The plaster just pours forth from this thing. Incredibly cleanly-fermented and lagered with no rough edges or messy esters. Even the cherries, still very apparent, hold mostly skin and pit characteristics, with very little malic acidity. Soft, vanilla-honey-tinged malts seem to be quite well-attenuated from the nose. Wheat-like character is present as well. Very elegant brett notes add very light band aid, soft guava-lemon and there is just a hint of gentle lactic acid on the end, mixing with the deep, rich, yet understated cherry character. No alcohol or flaw.
Just as breathtaking in the mouth, with even, mellow cherry notes that are nonetheless still very bright and flavorful, especially at 33 months of age...Soft, yet malty, but exquisitely dry with soft, biscuity malt and wheat notes and very fine carbonation. A pinch of lactic acid underscores the cherry and lightly tart brett acids. Mild funk, light band aid and black pepper. Incredibly drinkable and hard to believe it’s even 6.7% abv. The only thing I could think to possibly complain about here is that it’s, perhaps, TOO clean and mild. Maybe some more funk would do it nicely, I guess? I don’t know, this is pretty divine. And that plastery minerality....
Lovely cherry pulp-beige-golden body is topped by a small, but dense, pink-flecked head. High clarity leaving plentiful sediment behind.
The plaster just pours forth from this thing. Incredibly cleanly-fermented and lagered with no rough edges or messy esters. Even the cherries, still very apparent, hold mostly skin and pit characteristics, with very little malic acidity. Soft, vanilla-honey-tinged malts seem to be quite well-attenuated from the nose. Wheat-like character is present as well. Very elegant brett notes add very light band aid, soft guava-lemon and there is just a hint of gentle lactic acid on the end, mixing with the deep, rich, yet understated cherry character. No alcohol or flaw.
Just as breathtaking in the mouth, with even, mellow cherry notes that are nonetheless still very bright and flavorful, especially at 33 months of age...Soft, yet malty, but exquisitely dry with soft, biscuity malt and wheat notes and very fine carbonation. A pinch of lactic acid underscores the cherry and lightly tart brett acids. Mild funk, light band aid and black pepper. Incredibly drinkable and hard to believe it’s even 6.7% abv. The only thing I could think to possibly complain about here is that it’s, perhaps, TOO clean and mild. Maybe some more funk would do it nicely, I guess? I don’t know, this is pretty divine. And that plastery minerality....
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Oct 2016
at 09:49
8/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
At Fofa. A lovely red pink with a berry aroma. Waxy berry tartness, light acidity, good stuff. 3.9
Tried
on 12 Sep 2016
at 08:22
6/10
Tried
on 16 Jul 2016
at 22:03
8.3/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 9
Bottle. Hazy light red liquid with small to medium light pink head. Aroma of cherries, almonds, lemon, light cinnamon and apple skin. Taste is dry and medium sour with notes of cherries, cinnamon, light funk, lemon and red apple skin. Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Great.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Feb 2016
at 02:09
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
500 ml Italian-style bottle. PRetty pink-red color with lace. Nice tart cherry nose, a bit of yogurt. Flavor is cherry, including a nuttiness from the stones, and yogurt. Not hugely sour like a lambic, but lovely funkiness.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Jan 2016
at 18:06
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle share courtesy of Rich. Cherries dominate this brew, sweet and tart. Pours out a nice pink hue, with small frothy head. this ones all about the cherries
Tried
from Bottle
on 07 Sep 2015
at 11:02
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Little sexy bottle thanks to Rich. Pours out a maroon berry color topped with a small pink head. Nose is nice cherries wood barrel notes nice funk tart great. Taste is more of the cherries tartness sweetness funk very nice.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Sep 2015
at 20:51