AOBF 04. Bottle. This one was my favorite sample at the festival. Pours a soft reddish-brown with some lighter tans and darker auburns. Aroma is very interesting, sweet and sour sauce meets balsamic vinegar meets caramel malt. A whiff of yeast on there as well, but not a huge amount of oak detectable yet. Flavor is immediately powerfully sweet, caramelly, sugary fruit esters, with an ever so subtle light vinegar sourness. Though it seems dominated by the sweetness, I really think the yeast (spicy, lightly sour) and oak did a good job of creating a nice subtle background. Unlike many sweet beers, the flavor was so true and good, the sweetness didnt bother me, and actually seemed to add a lot of character. I can see why so many think it’s so-so, maybe this one just worked really well when I tried it, but whatever the case, I really enjoyed this one. Oh ya, the mouthfeel was a big part of this, for an oak-aged sour ale, it sure had a soft, even, almost creamy texture. Yum
Rerate. Picked up another bottle to try recently. Very clear and filtered, with obvious pasteurisation. This one has a bit more sticky fruit, some tangy sour cherry flavor and something like strawberry-caramel flavors. I still really enoy the tart/sour flavors of this one and while, admittedly, it may not be the end all be all of flemish sours, it is still one of my personal favorites as far as the mid-tier, filtered flemish sours go. As always, I’d be immensely interested to try an unfiltered cask sample.