The Rare Barrel
Microbrewery
in
Berkeley,
California,
United States 🇺🇸
Owned by
Cellarmaker Brewing Company
Associated Venue: The Rare Barrel
Established in 2012
Contact
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.
7/10
Tried
from Draft
on 26 Mar 2025
at 07:37
8/10
Tried
from Draft
on 26 Mar 2025
at 07:37
8/10
May 2, 2017
Bottle@Jens - dark orange pour with thin head. Aroma and taste is sour berry fruity with some nice red wine notes coming in, light malty, bretty hoppy with some more berry fruits coming into the finish.
Bottle@Jens - dark orange pour with thin head. Aroma and taste is sour berry fruity with some nice red wine notes coming in, light malty, bretty hoppy with some more berry fruits coming into the finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 26 Mar 2025
at 06:33
8/10
May 2, 2017
Bottle@Jens - dark orange pour with thin head. Aroma and taste is sour berry fruity with some nice red wine notes coming in, light malty, bretty hoppy with some more berry fruits coming into the finish.
Bottle@Jens - dark orange pour with thin head. Aroma and taste is sour berry fruity with some nice red wine notes coming in, light malty, bretty hoppy with some more berry fruits coming into the finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 26 Mar 2025
at 06:33
7.9/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 8
Flavor 8.5
Texture 7
Overall 8
4
2022 edition. 7.1% abv.
Not clear amber, near cherry coloured, small head of foam that shrinks quickly, still leaves some lacing.
Smell is very tart cherries, somewhat acetic, noticeable Brettanomyces.
Taste follows the nose. Very tart cherries, super dry, puckering, acetic, funky, just really nice.
Light mouthfeel.
Very nice sour.
2022 edition. 7.1% abv.
Not clear amber, near cherry coloured, small head of foam that shrinks quickly, still leaves some lacing.
Smell is very tart cherries, somewhat acetic, noticeable Brettanomyces.
Taste follows the nose. Very tart cherries, super dry, puckering, acetic, funky, just really nice.
Light mouthfeel.
Very nice sour.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Mar 2025
at 13:46
8.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 9
Bottle from Carmine Street Beers, New York. Loads of apricot in the aroma with citrus, some funk, oak, peach, light pale malt, tangerine. Tart and medium sour, medium body. Lovely balance, lots of stone fruits, amazing!
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Feb 2025
at 14:30
7.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Hazy dark golden with a white head - Tart fruity aroma - Tart tropical fruity flavour - Fruity flavours goes into the finish - This was good
Tried
on 12 Jan 2025
at 20:01
7.6/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 8
Overall 8
Pours clear blonde. Medium, stable white head. Scent is creamy, Amlam, wood, bit buttery. Very citrussy. Cherry absent in both color and aroma. Taste is sharp, intense sourness. Fruity backbone, not very cherry like. Lovely, actually. Very amlam-forward, but in this case, it works and is actually lovely.
Tried
on 24 Dec 2024
at 12:59
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
375ml bottle [2022 vintage at 7.8% abv]. Murky, dark brown colour with average to huge, frothy, diminishing, minimally lacing, dirty beige head. Earthy fruity, slightly tangy and minimally chocolately, dark malty aroma, notes of raspberry with leafy, pulpy and fruit acidic aspects, hints of milk chocolate. Taste is tart, tangy, slightly earthy fruity and slightly chocolately, dark malty, notes of raspberry, unripe raspberry, a touch of fruit acid, citric acid, diluted hints of milk chocolate. Watery texture, astringent palate, medium, prickly to lively carbonation. Imbalanced, disharmonious, heterogeneous, un-integrated flavours, rather watery and sour, no vestiges of Bourbon - quite disappointing. And if it wasn't raspberry, even more so...
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Nov 2024
at 19:57
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle shared at CBJ. Cheers! Pours hazed orange-gold with a frothy, white head. Light sweet flavour with dry pithy citrus, mellow salty bite, lemon peel. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Clean finish, nice salinity.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Oct 2024
at 21:29