UPDATED: DEC 24, 2023 Sampled December 2023. 13 years later and this is nicely carbonated somehow; maybe the first bottle was a dud. The beer has a nice, pale amber tinged, tan head and the body is a concentrated amber color that shows a bright amber hue when held up to the light. The aroma has a bright, inviting fruit character to it, dark berry jam, floral plums, candied carnations and a nice tartness, as well as a nice little toasted, slightly spicy backbone of oak aromatics. The spiciness in the nose is also accentuated by some touches of very vinegar character, this is at a low enough level that it just amps up the fruit notes in the nose. As my nose adjusts, a bright strawberry note release starts to sing here as well, likely accentuated by the mellow acetic character. Nicely prickly textured, with a good carbonation, and a body that has a lactic fullness to it that is a bit in the chewy side. Nicely tart, a bit mouth puckering, with an ample dark, jammy fruit character, sour raisins, tart prunes, a bright strawberry flavor, toasted woody oak notes, supporting vanillin wood flavors, and a nice toasted woodiness that is accentuated by both the oak and residual malt character. The sourness here is predominantly from lactic acid but there is a solid acetic character, that provides a nice spiciness, without becoming overly harsh or dominant; the sourness here is nicely prominent, but not dominatingly aggressive like it was in the first bottle I had many years ago. The acidity really accentuates and brightens the fruit character, and there really is a nicely bright, toasted nutty note that infuses the entire flavor profile of the beer. The last version of this I had 13 years ago, was really not a very good beer. Maybe the one I got was just a one-off flat dud, or maybe in the intervening time, this has carbonated and become much more lively, but either way, this is drinking FUCKING PHENOMENAL right now. I wish I had more of these, but I'm pretty sure this is the last one I have. One of the best beers I've had this year, which doesn't help anyone including myself, cuz there's probably not any more of these that exist. December 2010 Rating: 6/3/5/3/11 = 2.8 Pours dead flat into my Lost Abbey Teku glass. The beer is a dark, concentrated amber color that shows a clear, slightly purple tinged, amber hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells like strawberries due to an interaction between acetic acid and the fruit esters in the beer. The nose actually has quite a bit of acetic acid character to it. There is an underlying, bright berry like aromatic to this beer. If you really dig deep the nose yields a sort of oxidized prune like note, this transforms into a phenolic / plastic like note as my nose gets used to the aroma. There is an at times subtle, though at times fairly noticeable, dusty oak woodiness to the nose that also has some spiciness to it. I feel like there is a lot of wine-influenced complexity to the nose, but that the too dominant acetic acid character obfuscates this complexity to a mere suggestion. Very, very sour and acidic, my first sip has me reeling from the acidity, though subsequent sips has this mellowing somewhat. The flavor is dominated by the acetic acidity, but there also seems to be some mellower lactic acid on top of this. This has enough acetic acid to it that it burns my esophagus just a bit. The beer finishes mouth puckeringly dry, not too mention the puckering acidity, and also has a tannic, oak astringency to it. The oak also contributes a soft woodiness and perhaps a hint of oak-spiciness (though it is really hard to pinpoint this last one underneath the spiciness from the acetic acid). This is definitely quite still as I don’t even get a hint of carbonation in the texture. The texture has some viscousness to it and actually this has quite a bit of body to it as it lingers on the palate. A soft fruitiness is found underneath the acetic character and contributes flavors of strawberries and a subtle, red-wine influenced berry character. The fruitiness and the acetic acid character seems to suggest at a sweetness that is not actually in this beer, though the finish always remains bone dry. This beer is definitely overly acetic and sour (and this is coming from someone that really enjoys hard, sour beers). It is not quite one dimensional, but it is approaching that point, and I really get the feeling that the acetic acid is overpowering and hiding the wine-barrel influence and complexity that this beer should / could have. Santa Fe has always had at least a fair amount of acetic acid character in their beers but it seems to be getting more aggressive with time (despite this being a completely different barrel); I would love to see them get a clean, bracing lactic acidity in there beers and abandon the acetic all together. The fact that the carbonation is absent from this beer also has quite a bit of a negative impact on my perception of this beer.

Bottle shared by yourefragile. Thanks Michael. The beer is brown colored, appearing virtually flat. What little head there is rapidly vanishes, leaving no trace of its existence on the glass. The aroma is super sour and acetic. Whoa! I guess I am sadistic when it comes to sours and wilds. The flavor punishes your cheeks. Ripe fruit, tannins, oak. Not for the faint hearted. Light to medium bodied with very low carbonation. Overall, an interesting beer and certainly worth a try if you consider yourself a sourhead. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 11-11-2011

Courtesy of Nick!! Pours slightly hazy copper with off white head. The aroma is huge with crushed aspirin tartness, a modest level of vinegar and then a light amount of funky body sweat. The taste is straight up puckering tartness and acidity with small islands of vinegar and balsamic vinegar where brief moments of non tartness can be had. Into the finish there’s just more acidity.

UPDATED: OCT 18, 2012 Bottle generously shared by Nick! Dark scarlet copper pour with a small ivory head. Didn’t leave a trail inside the glass. Enamel peeling sour with lots of unripened berry, vinegar, tart citrus, lemon zest, cherry skin and wood. This thing was uber aggressive. Made my teeth bleed and I loved it! Now I’ve got to seek these out!

Reddish brown pour with a small white, aroma has buttery popcorn (definitely agree with a lot of people on this fact) mixed with sour apple cider notes. The sourness is very good on this beer, and I think the enamel on my teeth has disappeared, good stuff!

Thanks to my Secret Santa a while back for sending this along - cheers, mattyb83! Totally flat pour reddish/brown pour, with a nose of straight buttery popcorn (not diacetyl). Mouthfeel is moderately slick, with a serious acetic quality to it. Taste has a decent wine character to it, but the beer is just too heavily acetic overall.

Shared by JCB. Pours a clean ruby copper with wisps of head. Nose is pedio heavy, lots of fingernail polish remover and buttered popcorn with some vinegar. Light cherry and vinous notes. Super acidic flavor/palate. Almost abrasive. Interesting.

Bottle shared by JCB. Cheers, Jason! Pours still deep coppery red. Nose of sour cherry skins and fingernail polish. Some wood. Sour, tangy, and tart. Flat and a bit heavy. Acetic as hell, but not the most pleasant sourness. Not bad, but a bit one dimensional.

Bottle shared by JCB, thanks Jason! Pours clearish reddish with no head. Nose is rubber bands, nail polish/remover, plastic, cherry acidity. Its just super acetic. The flavor accentuates the acetic character to the point that it takes over the beer and nothing else can be tasted. And the sad thing is that it’s not like a Warhead hard candy that will turn sweet after being unbearably sour. Eck.

Big thanks to Ben aka Hojaminbag for sharing this one with Deuane and myself. Bottle poured into a taster glass. A - Pours murky brown with a fizzy, active, one finger tall white head leaving very light lacing down the glass. S - Smells of dank funk, strong tartness, and some light wood from the barrels. This one, while still very high on the acidity, was not too overpowering. Pretty good. T - Very tart pucker up front slowly giving way to a mix of dry must and vinegar. This one has quite a few similarities to a good red wine. Very dry with a light wood / barrel character throughout. The finish is a mix of tart sourness and dryness. This is not your everyday wild but it was a still very nice. M - Medium body and flavor with moderate carbonation. Very tart, both in the feel and the finish, lingering for some time on the pallet. O - This one was very nice. This is not the sourest beer I have ever had but it still packs a pretty good punch of pucker. I am glad I finally got to try one of the wilds from Santa Fe. Thanks again Ben!