7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
American 'oud bruin' (or indeed 'dark sour' as the brewer calls it), from a 75 cl bottle bought at Geers. Strong gusher - clearly Pen Druid still hasn't tamed the wild yeast in this one... Mousy, yellowish pale beige, opening and eventually completely dissolving head, cloudy burgundy brown robe with wine red tinge. Aroma of halfripe blackberries, red wine vinegar, damp earth, redcurrant, sour cherries, beetroot, sourdough, moist old wood. Estery onset, lots of sour grape, blackberry and sour cherry tartness with a vinegary edge (as is often the case in American sours) though not too harshly so; softish carb, astrigent sourness over a brown-bready and somewhat walnutty maltiness. Sour-fruitiness lingering till the end, dry and tart, with that red wine vinegar accent even intensifying a bit, while the earthiness grows to somewhat 'dirty' proportions and woodiness, however noticeable, remains fairly subtle. Typical American interpretation of an 'oud bruin' - or, more generically formulated, 'dark sour', fortunately the vinegar sting has been kept bearable here (I had other examples in that sense), but clearly not too well-fermented, considering the dirtiness and the strong gushing. With some more finetuning, this may well have the potential to reach an internationally important level of quality, because the flavours are quite 'right' already. Would not buy again, though (regardless of even the high price).
Tried
from Can
on 30 Dec 2019
at 01:13