Exterior Illumination
Short's Brewing Company in Elk Rapids, Michigan, United States 🇺🇸
Sour / Wild Beer - Flavoured Winter|
Score
6.94
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American Sour Ale brewed with cranberries, black currants, and Northern Michigan blue spruce tips.
In a continuous quest to harness the magic of the holiday season we curated a curious blend of flavored festivities: cranberries, black currants, and hand-picked blue spruce tips to brew this bright, tart, and particularly pink sour ale that will make your tongue glimmer like the four miles of lights we cover the Pub in every year. Drumroll please: this beer will teach you everything you need to know about Exterior Illumination.
In a continuous quest to harness the magic of the holiday season we curated a curious blend of flavored festivities: cranberries, black currants, and hand-picked blue spruce tips to brew this bright, tart, and particularly pink sour ale that will make your tongue glimmer like the four miles of lights we cover the Pub in every year. Drumroll please: this beer will teach you everything you need to know about Exterior Illumination.
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7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
This brew smells of cranberries and spruce. The flavor is pretty tart with berries, malt, spruce tips, and a little spicy yeast character. Interesting and enjoyable.
Tried
on 11 Sep 2024
at 05:43
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Tried
on 01 Oct 2021
at 00:15
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
12oz bottle from BenT. Filtered grape/apple juice look, maybe a little more amber. Fairly drinkable and enjoyable compared to other Shorts sour beers I've had. Mellow cranberry and currant tones, pleasant balance from the spruce. Drinks like an old school fruit beer as much as a sour. OK.
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Nov 2019
at 04:48
6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 4
Overall 7
Bottle. Pours a hazy deep copper with a white head that dissipates to the edges. Aroma has tart cranberry with some black currant and a bit of an earthy spruce note underlying. Flavor has an earthy tart currant note with growing cranberry plus a bit of wet spruce in the finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Jun 2019
at 03:13
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 11/6/2018. Pours slightly hazy/cloudy deep orange/copper/amber color with 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy light pink head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big sour/tart/tangy cranberries, black currant, fruit skin/seeds, lemon, lime, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red/green apple, red grape/wine, spruce tips, wood, hay, straw, grass, wheat, cracker, toasted biscuit, and bread dough; with lighter notes of caramel, brown sugar, peppercorn, musty/lacto funk, and yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of fruit, spruce tips, fruity/funky/acidic yeast and bready malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big sour/tart/tangy cranberries, black currant, fruit skin/seeds, lemon, lime, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red/green apple, red grape/wine, spruce tips, wood, hay, straw, grass, wheat, cracker, toasted biscuit, and bread dough; with lighter notes of caramel, brown sugar, peppercorn, musty/lacto funk, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness, fruit tang, and light spruce/yeast spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of tart/tangy cranberries, black currant, fruit skin/seeds, lemon, lime, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red/green apple, red grape/wine, spruce tips, wood, hay, straw, grass, wheat, cracker, toasted biscuit, bread dough, caramel, brown sugar, peppercorn, musty/lacto funk, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruit, spruce tips, fruity/funky/acidic yeast and bready malt flavors; with an awesome malt/tartness and tangy fruit balance; with zero puckering flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering tartness and tangy fruit. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/grainy/acidic/tangy, and lightly sticky mouthfeel that is fantastic. Zero warming alcohol for 5.1%. Overall this is an excellent fruited/spiced sour/wild ale. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruit, spruce tips, fruity/funky/acidic yeast and bready malt flavors; very smooth and refreshing to drink with the mellowly acidic/tangy/drying finish; nicely soft and not overly lactic. Perfectly balanced between juicy/jammy fruits, spruce tips, Brett/Lacto complexity, and pale/wheat malts against acidity. Not overwhelming on any aspect. A very enjoyable offering, and impressive spot on style example as expected.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Apr 2019
at 21:43
6.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7
12 ounce bottle from Vintage Estate, shared with S.S and K.Z! Slightly hazy dark amber, thin tan head, good retention. Aroma of jammy berries and currants, funk, spruce. Taste is spruce, tart berry, raisin, funk, a bit of caramel. Medium bodied, weird, not bad.
Tried
from Bottle
on 07 Jan 2019
at 00:13