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
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 6

Golden yellow body with white head. Light flower aroma. Malty sweet taste with a fruit edge

Tried on 28 Jan 2023 at 23:40


7.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle, courtesy of Forrest. Pours deep purple. Tart, acidic, blueberry, lemon, earthy, herbal tea. Medium body. Good.

Tried from Bottle on 28 Jan 2023 at 04:42


7.6
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle 375ml @ yngwie
Pours hazy orange with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, tart, strawberry, red currant, funk, acetone and oak. Taste is light to medium sweet and medium to heavy sour with a long tart, dry, oak, red currant and strawberry finish. Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.

Tried from Bottle on 14 Jan 2023 at 21:28


7.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle 375ml @ Terje & Julie
Pours hazy golden with a white head. Aroma has notes of malt, pineapple, tart and citrus. Taste is light sweet and medium bitter with a long tart and pineapple finish. Body is medium, texture is thin to oily, carbonation is soft.

Tried from Bottle on 08 Jan 2023 at 17:26


7.2
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Large bottle. Poured a dark cola color with a small white head. Aroma was big lavender, a little soapy. Flavor was light sweet and light tart sour notes, elderberries.

Tried from Bottle on 23 Dec 2022 at 04:21


7.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

750ml bottle. Label says it's a barrel aged golden ale. Golden? Nah. Bruin all the way. Dark fruits too. Acid. Solid malt backbone. 7 4 7 4 13

Tried from Bottle on 20 Dec 2022 at 21:56


7.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Hazy, pale golden color and a nice white head. Sweetish tangerine, tart guave,citric. Dry-sour finish

Tried on 17 Dec 2022 at 14:07


7.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

I taste some sort of berry for sure. No idea what elderberry tastes like. Well balanced. Some lavender. Some heather. Bottle.

Tried from Bottle on 11 Dec 2022 at 23:33


8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

(Draught at Muted Horn, Berlin, 29 July 2022) Dark red colour with frothy, pink head. Fruity, sourish nose with notes of blueberries, lemon, oak wood and vanilla. Fruity, tart taste with blueberries, oak wood, lemon, a touch of vinegar and a dry and tart finish. Hardly any bitterness. More than medium body, dry. Rich acidity and a good berry presence. Complex, still in good balance. Very nice.

Tried on 07 Dec 2022 at 22:12


8

Tart and fruity, white grapes, vinous, honeydew melon. Nice.

Tried from Bottle on 03 Dec 2022 at 23:31