Farmer's Reserve 1

At the brewpub. Pours murky orange. Lots of farmhouse, stables and funk, then grapes and wine barrels. The stink wins though. Medium body, lightly acidic and pleasantly tart, with a soft but lively carbonation leading into a dry but grape-filled palate. Great balance of the different components, highly enjoyable with a full taste without ever being tiring. A blast.

375 mL bottle poured. Thanks to Tim for the bottle. Celebrating the beginning of baseball with this beer, which in my opinion, began a string of a sour revolution for these guys. Pours a cloudy darker orange color with a thin fizz head. Aroma is big sour red grapes, as well as a sour plum like. Flavor is intense sour grape and berry fruit. Very funky. High acidic. Surprised it has this feel a few years later. I love how dominant the grape character is. Amazing, and expected no less.

375ml bottle pours a clear orange with some cloudy, white head. Nose is cool, lots of fruit, peaches, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit, lightly floral, some fruit roll up. Flavor is tart with a little lemony acid, peach, nectarine, some golden raisin, light candy, currant, some Eastern European white wine. Lightly tart finish but also dry on the finish. Excellent.

12 oz. bottle, sent from Glouglouburp (thanks a lot, Dany), pours a cloudy golden with a small white head. Aroma is heavy on the grapes, with lots of grape must, grape juice, and light notice of the wine barrels. Flavour is complex, wild and dry, with very dry grape must, grape skins, and peaches, accentuated beautifully by the wine barrels, making this dry and biting. Quite wild, though I don't think there is any brett or other such critters in here. Excellent stuff.

Bottle thansk to bytemesis. Pours orange gold with white head. Nose and taste of muscat, funk, aged cheese, oak, cabernet wine barrel, plum and light lemon. Lighter medium body.

Bottle @ home, via trade with bytemesis. Thanks Mike! Pours a hazy golden orange appearance with a cream colored head. Actually somewhat cheesy, quite funky, red grape, plum, basement aroma. Plum, big red grape, somewhat oaky, red wine, quite funky, moderately tart flavor. One of the best grape sours that I’ve had in quite a while.

Pours medium amber, a glowy brown-ish orange. Somewhat cloudy. The head is small to medium and slightly yellowed white. Fine foam. Most of the head dissipates after a minute, but there’s a nice blanket left over. Some lacing. The aroma has a very nice fruit flavor, and you can really pick out the grape varieties and plums. It’s juicy and sweet with a refined, musty fruit skin edge. The wine barrel adds a deeper fruit and oak flavor. Quite a nice combination. My only complaint is that there seems to be a touch of butter in there, though that will probably fade away with time and I seem to be more sensitive than most about such things. The taste starts with that sweet, juicy fruit (and the touch of butter) before it gets tarter and oakier. The finish is dry and packs a good tart bite. Medium sour. Lots of fruit. Very good after a hot day. Mouthfeel has prickly carbonation and some nice pucker. Mild to medium tannic from the barrel. I’ve liked both of these Farmer’s Reserve sours quite a bit - significantly more than when I tried them on tap, for some reason. It’s great to see Almanac put out some better stuff, particularly sours, which seems like a natural area for them (and the sour version of their first beer was excellent). I’m definitely looking forward to the next round of Farmer’s Reserves.