Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle @ Dan’s house. Thanks Chad! Hazy light yellow appearance with a white head that’s good looking. Lemon, acidic passion fruit, very rich citrusy, very unique aroma that’s like a citrus fruit concoction. Wow, very interesting. Not sure the connection to the previous version, but this is all citrus fruits. Wow, very light easy drinking brew. Delicate lemon, passion fruit, guava, pineapple citrusy flavor that’s acidic character really makes this very refreshing. Mild vanilla, pineapple bretty character that I imagine will develop more with age. Super easy drinking and you almost don’t realize how much you’re drinking because it goes down so easily. Fuck, I’m going to have to come back to this again because it’s easy drinking and has a lot of good flavors going on. I wouldn’t put this as a Berliner Weisse- probably belongs in the sour ale category.
First shared a bottle with buds at a tasting, but I found that I really wanted to sit down and take time to try this again. Here goes. I poured this one pretty vigorously to get some notes on the initial aroma. The head did dissipate fairly quickly. Definitely has more lacto, cheesy, funky notes than I recall last time around. Really a funky, pineapple, coconut, vanilla, somewhat cheesy aroma as well as some lemon tartness. Pretty unique nose with quite a bit going on- most is quite pleasant though the cheesy funkiness is a touch of a turn off. Mmmm. Tangy, tart lemon/passionfruit/pineapple fruity, a bit acidic, lightly lactic/snappy, super easy drinking coconut, a bit funky flavor with a light corn note that I don’t think I got last time around. Honestly, I get way more funk and cheese in the nose and the flavor is more tangy, tropical fruity, and smooth. I’m going to knock the aroma down 0.1 this time, but overall, the beer definitely holds up to my previous impression last month. Now comes the interesting part: is this a table beer? Well, I guess I’ll judge that based on how quickly I finish the 750 ml bottle without outright chugging the fucker. It sure goes down pretty fucking easy. I guess the bottle was emptied around minute fourteen? This is $4 more than Dupont, waa waa waa.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle 723/838 from batch 1 11/11 thanks to Ratman! Pours with a massive (glass filling) white head with thick bubbles. Retentive and leaves great lace. Hazed golden hue (deep gold) body underneath. Aromas are very flora, citrusy, lightly herbaceous hops, medium funk, lots of esters. Nearly a Brett C tropical/pineapple character. Mild earthy and peppery phenolics. Mildly bready and biscuity malt rounds it out. A touch grassy. Very nice. Flavors are a bit more malt forward at first. Bready, biscuity, soft. Mild grassy and hoppy character. Herbal as well with subdued funky phenolics. Medium esters of belgian yeast and fruit character I normally associate with Brett A or C. Some stone fruit. A touch more rustic, earthy, straw qualities as it warms. Very lively carbonation. Dry, soft (very soft overall character), and mild bitterness. Good, tasty, solid!
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5
Where the Wild Beers Are, 2011. Strange aroma of stomach acid and cheese. No fruit really, and it is a little sour. As terrible as this description sounds, it actually is drinkable in a wild beer kind of way. Cloudy orange.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Where the Wild Beers Are, 2011. Lots of yeast in the aroma as well as earth. Dry and earth flavor as well, with tons of brett yeast. Dry finish of dried plants.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle @ home. Somewhat cloudy, brownish golden appearance with a small white head. Fairly spicy, light coriander (hmmm, not exactly sure how Indian coriander differs from other coriander), lightly tart, lemon/tangerine/mango, a touch peppery aroma. Mild pineapple bretty tartness in the flavor along with a moderate peppery, coriander spiciness and lemon/mango citrus fruitiness. Maybe my least favorite of the WWB’s thus far but it’s still enjoyable and fun to drink. Actually, kind of seems have low carbonation and little head retention. I don’t remember noting issues with low carbonation with the previous WWB, though WWBR did have some issues with overcarbonation. Update: The second bottle I opened gushed and completely foamed up. I enjoyed this one a fair amount more the second time around. The finish seemed more tart and was overall more refreshing. Not sure why this whole series isn’t classified as wild ales.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle @ home. WWBG pours a hazy, brownish orange appearance with a big, cream colored head with good lacing and fairly long duration. Really a rich earthy, moderately citrusy hoppy nose with quite a bit of tart tropical fruit notes like pineapple, passionfruit, and mango. Just a touch tart, big earthy/citrusy hoppy, a touch toasty, sweet pale malty flavor again with notes of tangerine, pineapple, mango, and passionfruit. Really does a nice job of combining the fruit notes with the moderate hoppiness. Again, this baby is bursting with flavor; it’s more like a subdued, delicate tastiness.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 1 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 2.5
Bottle 285/1765, Batch 5/11. Pours with a hazy golden hued body with a massive, foamy, tan head. Aromas of diacetyl, butter, butyric acid, bile, light esters and cheddar cheese. Flavors are slightly better, but not much. Acidic, bile, fruity esters, cheese popcorn. Lively bubbles, dry and acidic. While I liked the other Crooked Stave beers I had, this one was completely undrinkable!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Specified as the Chardonnay barrel. On tap at Funkwerks. Pours with a hazed golden hued body and a white head. Aromas are a bit grainy, some DMS, spicy, funky, ginger, white wine. Flavors are a touch tart, cherrios (something I get in my young golden sours when I brew), young tasting, cheese, funk, light brett, oak, white wine. Lively bubbles, dry. Young and a bit off.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
On tap at Funkwerks/Crooked Stave. Pours with a hazed orange body with an off-white head. Aromas of red wine and funk, vinous, orange peel, tropical fruit and barrel. A touch of butter (not entirely sure if this is diacetyl; it could be the barrel). Flavors are of suntan lotion, mild acidity, orange peel, very fruity, chardonnay like butter character, floral, coriander, funk, honeysuckle. Lively bubbles, dry.