The Rare Barrel

Microbrewery in Berkeley, California, United States 🇺🇸
Owned by Cellarmaker Brewing Company
Associated Venue: The Rare Barrel

Established in 2012

Contact
940 Parker St, Berkeley, CA, CA 94710, United States
Description
Picture yourself eating a handful of red raspberries, drinking a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade, or sipping on a glass of fine wine. Those sour, tart, and acidic flavors you are currently imagining are what makes sour beer taste quite different from traditional beers. These flavors, which are unique to sour beers, are the product of time and the right mix of microorganisms. While our sour beers age in oak barrels for an average of one year, a blend of microorganisms will shape the sour, tart, and acidic flavors that we’ve come to desire. Yes, sour beers take an exceptionally long time to develop, but we think that sour beers are well worth the wait.

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8/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8
Tap. Pours clear golden, small white head, some lacing. Aroma is wheat, lemon, a bit of funk, oak. Flavor is dry, light tart, clean, orange apparent. Medium light body. Don’t get vanilla, but I don’t mind. This is good.
Tried from Draft on 04 Apr 2015 at 16:27

7.9/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8.5
Bottle shared by jackl at the C’Ville Foxy Knoxy tasting. Hazy orange, thin fizzy off-white head, good retention. Aroma of apricots, stone fruit, white bread, mild funk. The taste is tart stone fruit, funk, earth, mild pepper. Medium bodied, mild lingering tartness, well balanced.
Tried from Bottle on 31 Mar 2015 at 17:37

7.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 7.5
Bottle at the Charlottesville Tasting shared by jackl, thanks! Hazy orange with off-white head. Aromas of barnyard funk, floral notes, light citrus. Tastes of tart acidic notes, citrus, light vinegar, tart lemons. Medium-light body with a dry finish.
Tried from Bottle on 30 Mar 2015 at 21:03

7.6/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 7.5
Lime nose. Cloudy amber, medium head, good head. Tart lime. Medium flavor, tart. Good sour, but no character.
Tried on 28 Mar 2015 at 23:12

8.3/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 9 Flavor 9 Texture 8 Overall 8
Bottle courtesy of jackl from Homer321, served at the C-Ville Amanda Know celebrotory bottle share. Hazy to cloudy golden yellow color, bright white head. Nice aroma of lightly funky pineapple. Taste is softly sour tropical fruit and citrus. Very easy drinking.
Tried from Bottle on 28 Mar 2015 at 23:08

8.8/10 Appearance 10 Aroma 9 Flavor 9 Texture 6 Overall 9
Bottle thanks to Russell. Pours a cloudy ruby with small off white head. The aroma is strong lavender and blackberry. Medium mouth, jammy blackberry, tart, lavender, cherry, wow, this is amazing.
Tried from Bottle on 28 Mar 2015 at 22:23

8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 9
Growler thanks to Bruce. 100th Berliner Rating! Pours a hazy gold with small white head that diminishes to nothing. The aroma is vanilla, lemon zest, and funky cheese. Medium mouth with strong vanilla and citrus, light sourness, dry. Very nice.
Tried from Growler on 25 Mar 2015 at 13:31

8.2/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 9 Texture 8 Overall 8
One of a large number of samples I had at the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston 3/21/32014. Great sour apricot fruity acid beer!
Tried on 22 Mar 2015 at 14:13

8.1/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8.5
Bottle with a big thanks to Spence. Pours out a hazy straw topped with a small head. Nose is great a nice sour funk peach apricot and a very nice barrel note. Taste is more of the great fruit presents along with a good mellow barrel note. The pucker factor was right on target another tasty treat from the rare barrel.
Tried from Bottle on 18 Mar 2015 at 18:15

6.2/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 5 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
[2/28/15] Bottle sample at De Garde Brewing in Tillamook. Release and bottle share event. Sourish ginger and lemon.
Tried from Bottle on 16 Mar 2015 at 17:43