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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7.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7.5
[5/10/2019] Draught sample at Mikkeller Beer Celebration Copenhagen 2019. Yellow session. Yellow. Fruitiness, funk, oak, vinegar, sour, bitterish, medium-bodied.
Tried on 21 Jun 2019 at 15:24

7.8/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8
Hazy pale. Lots of guava, quite bright. Lots of nice guava note. Nice clean guava and pale malts, and a nice sour note. Solid.
Tried on 20 Jun 2019 at 06:35

7.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
Guava and other tropical notes. Cloudy gold with a decent white head. Light soured guava with a touch of cardamom.
Tried on 20 Jun 2019 at 06:34

6.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
750mL bottle, pours a cloudy golden yellow with a small white head. Aroma brings out fresh guava upfront, followed by acidic notes, and some oak. Flavour is quite acidic, with acidic tropical fruits followed by oak and some wild yeast. Rather acidic, with lots of guava on the finish. Solid beer, but not overly complex.
Tried from Bottle on 20 Jun 2019 at 06:33

6.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 7
Draught @ MBCC '19 [ Blue Session ]. - Mikkeller Beer Copenhagen Celebration 2019, Øksnehallen, Halmtorvet 11, 1700 København V, Danmark.[ As The Rare Barrel Sourtooth Tiger ].ABV: 6.0%. Unclear medium yellow colour with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, white head. Aroma is moderate malty, fruity malt, pale malt, tart - sourish, moderate hoppy, herbal, spicy, citrus - lime. Flavor is moderate sweet and light acidic with a long duration, tart, pale malt, dry, ginger, herbal, spicy, citrus - lime. IMO: not realy my thing with spices in my beer and certainly not ginger ! Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20190510] 7-3-6-3-13
Tried on 13 Jun 2019 at 06:55

8/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8
06-06-19 // taster from tap. Wise Guise (2018) by The Rare Barrel at Muted Horn Oaky woody dominated. With a sharp rasperry acidity. Mild vanilla in the warming end. Great.
Tried from Draft on 11 Jun 2019 at 09:52

7.3/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 8
Draught @ MBCC '19 [ Blue Session ]. - Mikkeller Beer Copenhagen Celebration 2019, Øksnehallen, Halmtorvet 11, 1700 København V, Danmark.[ As The Rare Barrel Wise Guise ].Unclear medium amber colour with a small to average, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, sweet malt, wine - grapes, oak, barrel - funk, light raspberry - citrus. Flavor is moderate sweet and acidic with a average duration, sweet malt, oak, grapes. pale malt, barrel - funk, light raspberry, citrus - lemon - citric. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20190510] 7-3-8-3-16
Tried on 10 Jun 2019 at 15:13

7.2/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7
750ml bottle pours out hazy golden topped with a white head. Nose is cinnamon spice fruit plenty tart funky barrel notes. Taste is more of the cinnamon forward fruit tart pucker and a little bourbon barrel notes.
Tried from Bottle on 09 Jun 2019 at 18:15

7.9/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
Thanks Walt for sharing the bottle! Taster showing amber brown with latte colored foam. The nose shows pronounced tart notes of raspberry and light brett. The palate is well carbonated and medium bodied. Moderately tart with forward notes of raspberry with light oak and brett.
Tried from Bottle on 09 Jun 2019 at 12:47

9/10
Mad Brett, super tart
Tried from Bottle on 08 Jun 2019 at 23:11