Urban Farmhouse Dark Light

One of Redchurch's Urban Farmhouse sours, batch n°35, bottle from Gedeelde Vreugde in Sint-Niklaas, recommended by the owner there; sober label, plain white with only text, but informative enough, mentioning Lactobacillus as an ingredient... Medium thick, regular, non-lacing, pale greyish beige head, quickly gone in the middle but retaining as a ring around the glass, over an initially lightly hazy, deep chestnut brown beer, dark but fully translucent, with burgundy hue. Interesting, estery and appetizing bouquet of ripe blue plums, medium dry sherry (quite pronounced), caramel candy, fruit yoghurt, fermenting grapes, dry red wine, stewed pear, fig vinegar, blueberries, soggy brown bread, dried dates, raspberry juice, raisin bread. Crisp, estery onset, lots of fruity tartness, redcurrant, plums, blackberries, juicy with a sweetish pear-like core but drenched in a drying, saliva-inducing but not overly puckering sourness, with both factors well in balance with each other - as in: the underbuilt of sweetness mellows the sourness, as I tend to expect from any sour brown / sour red (or Flemish red, for that matter). Carbonation is soft, mouthfeel is supple and lean, gliding effortlessly over the tongue. A trail of lightly butterscotch- and raisin bread-like malt sweetishness is left behind, dried by the tartness but again in a fairly gentle, well-balanced way (lactic acidity indeed), though a light touch of sherry vinegar does linger at the back. A very mild toasty bitterish malt note is detectable as well and accentuates a mild, very late, brief but well-positioned, earthy hop bitterishness, the latter only palpable after swallowing, amidst the remnants of the caramelly malt sweetness and, most of all, estery fruitiness which keeps maintaining perfect balance between sweet and sour. Plum- and grape-like, very well-balanced, very elegant sour: this is way better than expected. Redchurch has not disappointed me so far but I had no idea they were capable of creating sour ales at this level - and I love a good sour. This is clearly inspired by Flemish 'oud bruin', maybe not at the same depth (lacking in wood 'nobility', for instance), but the balance between sweet and sour, with the subtle addition of a dash of toasty and hoppy bitterness, is truly remarkable. Highly recommended as a not too complicated, but very cleverly executed 'oud bruin'-style sour!