Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Pours hazy copper gold with nice off white head. The aroma is full up crumbled blue cheese followed by feta cheese, soured cheese, saltiness and a bit of tart for added interest. These cheese notes really do make for a pleasant aroma. The taste is smooth and more subtle than the nose lead on to with some cheese moving quickly into mild tartness, a pleasing sense of fruitiness and a thin mild spicy yeasty note. It dries out some into the after taste. This is tasting great right now. This whole experience works for me. Yum.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Tap @ Funkwerks. Darkish red orange appearance with a small off white head. Very nice aroma- dark fruits, oranges, white wine, slightly floral, earthy, mild slices. Floral/lavender, toasty, light caramel, lightly tart, dak citrus fruits, slightly earthy flavor. Quite tasty, easy drinking, flavorful brew.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Well, I am a fan of the original base beer, and this one works quite well - the original is mellow and dry, so this left a lot of room for the barrel to add character - a lot of chard and oak in the nose - the flavor retains the toasted, dry maltiness of the original and the oak plays off of this well - the chard adds some lovely dry tannins to the mix - then lavender from the base beer pushes to the fore in the finish - lightly tart finish, with lingering lavender - well done!
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
From what I can gather on the interwebz, this beer is a blend of a Berliner Weisse and an intentionally soured Wit that has also been spiked with brett - apparently the "vomit beer" served at fests was both very young and not a blend, so for all intents and purposes, a completely different beer - the bottle is a bit of a gusher, but it gushed slowly enough that I got the glass under it before I lost any - hazy straw color - fizzy - doesn’t really kick up a head - there is a bit of the butyric acid in the nose that probably evoked the vomit comparison in earlier versions, but here it is presenting as a hint of Parmesan in the overall strong cheesiness in the aroma (blue cheese, Greyere) - nothing off-putting about it, as I love cheese - behind this, some strong notes of tropical fruit brettiness (pineapple and, yes, guava) - light hints of spiciness in the back - full, prickly carbonation in the mouth - light and fairly quaffable, despite the rather high acidity - quite dry, with moderate oak character, tannins - moderate brett funk - lightly earthy wheat - a touch of spiciness - a bit leathery - tastes a bit like a young lambic - a little too young, really, as it isn’t completely coming together just yet - as I understand, though, this is less than 5 months old, so for such a young wild ale, it is actually quite good - I guess I am odd man out here, but I am enjoying it, especially at closer to room temp - props for the nod to Ween, too.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8
Bottle @ home. Beautiful, dark rose, cloudy appearance with a pinkish cream head with good retention. Really a nice (rosey) floral, lightly funky, mild to moderate barnyard, mildly yeasty, light red fruits (strawberry), some citrus fruits, slightly tart nose. Interesting first taste- light red fruity, yeasty, delicate, lightly tart flavor. With a little more inspection, there’s a mild floral element, mild tartness, strawberry, red fruits, pretty mild, subdued yeasty flavor. Some of the drier elements on the finish with also flavors of straw and more citrus fruits. The floral element is quite nice in the beer. Really a delicate mouth feel and a mild tartness that probably will develop with a little more age. As with some of their other beers, I think aging this a little while will help but leaps and bounds ahead of my previous tasting of their sours. It also should be noted that the first two offerings from Chad ran about $13 for a 750mL, which is awesome considering some of his competitors charge $35 for other local sour beers. Bottle 1123/1600. [Updated rating on bottle 237/1600 on 9/3/2011]
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle 1189 of 1600 - I was apprehensive about trying this, considering that, up to this point, his other wild and/or sour beers have received such horrendous scores - I just bought this bottle to judge for myself and resigned myself to the possibility that it might be crap - kind of glad I took the chance - I think his other beers must have been too young when he served them at fests, etc. - wild yeast is pretty tough to work with, but it seems he has worked the kinks out with this one - turbid pinkish pour - moderate off-white lacing - nose of musky, moderately developed brett, kicking out notes of pineapple and moderate musty funk - the berries, rose hips and hibiscus play off of this well, adding a greater depth to the tropical fruit character (mango, passionfruit) - medium-low carbonation - a prickly acidity that seems more from the rose hips and hibiscus than anything else - brett is more subdued in the flavor than the nose - it works its way up through the acidity, bringing some of the pineapple it brought to the nose - very subdued funkiness and a moderate, chewy yeastiness on the tail end - finish of hay, mild blue cheese and lingering rose hip flavor and acidity - would like to try it again once the brett has developed even more, but I think it is drinking pretty nicely right now - very mellow for a wild ale - probably a good intro to brett for the uninitiated - will definitely pick up a bottle of the guava now.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Tap at Euclid Hall - more of a BdG than a Belgian ale - deep copper pour - lightly estery nose, with dusty yeast, lightly toasted grains and lavender/wildflower notes - well attenuated - the richness of the Munich malts remains, but most of the sweetness is gone, leaving a biscuty malt profile on the palate - light cobweb - lavender and toasted wheat on the tail end - a subtle hint of peppery phenols in the finish - a touch of white wine character - understated and delicious.