Tart of Darkness
(has 2 batches)

Bottle @ Beer & Ball Saturday, Odense. 13,000th Tasting. Pours dark brown with a small creamy head. Vomit, oak, wood, caramel and serpentine. Some vinegar,

7% part of the 3000 yen tasting set at CBB. Winey, barrel, oak, vanilla in the nose with some mild dark malt notes on a brownish-black pour with a minimal head. Exceptionally tart, vinegary, sour & fruity with some berry or cherry notes. Quite a subtle beer meant for sipping, solid but not my favorite tonight.

On draft at ChurchKey DC during the Night of the Living Ales on halloween. Pours a clear deep cola brown with a tan head. Aroma of prunes and dark cherries. Flavors of tart cherries, prunes and raisins. Smooth, tart finish.

Re-rate 9/14: Botte sample at a tasting at Levi’s place. Thanks Levi. Sour, fruity, lactic, malt. Very little Stout character, if any at all. Quite rounded. Very good. 7/3/8/4/16=3.8

Bottle shared at a tasting at Tom C’s place. 2013 bottle. Dark brown to black with a small tan head. Aroma of oak, sour fruits, dark chocolate, roastiness, a bit of coffee, cherry liqueur notes and a hint of vinegar. Sour flavor with a bit of vinegar, lactic notes, cherries and berries, a bit of funk and faint roastiness in the finish. Medium-bodied. A bit one-dimensional but still very nice. 7/3/8/3/16=3.7

Bottle courtesy of tkrjukoff. Pours hazy black with a creamy dark mocha head that leaves a small trace on the glass while dissipating. Smell is sour and malty with roasted malts, lemon juice, dark grapes, yoghurt, hay, charred wood and hints of coffee and bitter chocolate. Taste is very sour with roasted malts, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, lemon zest, hay, barnyard, dark roast coffee, unflavoured yoghurt, cocoa powder and hay. Mouthfeel is dry, very tart, mouth puckering and light to medium bodied. Finish is sour with roasted malts, dark roast coffee, lemon juice, lemon zest, hay, charred wood and hints of barnyard. Tasty roasted thirst-quencher.

Tap at stagshead. Pours deep brown with thin head that dissipates. Nose of vinegar and roasted malts. Nice pucker that smacks u in mouth. Tastes of balsamic, rootbeer, roasted malts, chocolate, port wine, and some plum pit. Nice mouthfeel and quite nice

Aroma is only lightly toasty with a moderate acidic note that brings with it dark cherries and berries. Some light oak character is also present as well as faint vanilla. Pours black with hints of dark brown and a big pillowy tan head that slowly but steadily recedes. Light lacing. Flavor has a hint of sweetness and roast but is quickly dominated by a fairly acidic note. The acid brings with it cherries, berries and plums. There is a hint of oak but the flavor is mostly acidity and dark, tart, fruit. The finish has a bit of roast to it but also a surprising raisin note along with lingering raspberries. I am always surprised how much roast can be lost to acidity. A light chocolate note mid palate when you taste the oak and vanilla. Low bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium light bodied with medium carbonation. Low acidic astringency and low alcohol warmth. This does not have any of the creamy mouthfeel you would expect of a stout. Overall a fairly enjoyable dark sour. It’s flavor is dominated by acidity and dark fruit though leaving only hints of the base beer. If you are looking for a slightly sour stout this is not the beer.