Cascade Kriek Ale

Brewed by Cascade Brewing @ Raccoon Lodge
Style: Sour Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

A: The pour is a hazy dark brown with plenty of read highlights and a thin light red head. S: A really interesting and earthy bouquet with plenty of oak cherries. There’s a definite tartness to the nose as well. T: The flavor is similar to the nose but a little more complex and interesting. In addition to the oak and earthiness there’s also some chocolate, tobacco, and perhaps leather with some nice cherry and tart flavors as well. M: The body is medium with a fairly full level of carbonation and a dry finish. D: I’d heard mixed reviews of this beer, but found it to be very enjoyable. I’d be happy to have this one again.

750ml shared by my stepfather - thanks, Peter! Dark and dusky reddish pour, with a few floaties and a very thin scrim on bubbles on top. Resinous scent of cherry pits and skins, very moderate funk, and a nicely rounded wood element bringing it together. Slight sweetness in the taste is a bit distracting, and the palate is a bit on the thin side. Competent but not a mind-blowing kriek.

Bottle. Pours dark red with beige head. Nose of dark cherries. Not as sour as some. Seems to border on a kriek and a sour... they’re not necessarily the same style. Some vanilla, cherry skins, fruit, and oak. Not bad.

Pours a murky ruby brown with a light tan head. Nose shows cherry juice and tart cherry skin, mild almond, some funk and yeast character, pie spices. Flavor is tart with a Flemish aspect, pie spices, vanilla and almond, cherry skins. Palate is tart and spicy.

2008 750ml bottle into snifter. Pours a dark red copper with small pink/beige head. Aroma is sour cherries, lilac, subtle honey, and gueuze - can tell this will be good by the smell alone. Taste is tart tart sour cherries, grapes, lemon/lime citrus on a bed of oak - sour as can be and I love it! Very crisp carbonation, which is great considering the distance this bottle traveled. Excellent Kriek, probably the best I’ve had.

In short: A lot of juicy cherries in a dry barnyard wild beer with a slight Flemish Sour character. Kick-ass.
How: Bottle 750ml. A few times. This rating for a bottle that must be between 6 and 12 months of age
The look: Cloudy brownish red topped by a very small beige head
In long: The intense nose is full of cherries on top of a horse blanket. Taste starts with lots of juicy cherries. This thing packs a lot of cherries. Unlike true Belgian krieks the cherries really come through strong, juicy and fresh. After the initial juicy cherries attack the beer morphs and brings a bone dry finish. Sourness and acidity is relatively low (for the style) and the beer is more barnyard and dusty dry than sour and acidic. The beer also has a rather strong tannic character that I usually get in Flemish Sours. This is a great creation even if it does not taste like a “real” Kriek. For someone who knows beer and geography as much as I do it is obvious that this beer is not an authentic cherry lager from the Belgium province of Texas.

Bottle at the de-boned chicken tasting. Pours a hazy brown with some floaties. Quite sour and fruity with lots of berry aromas. Hints of marzipan (from the cherry pits?). Medium bodied with a slightly sticky mouthfeel. Medium carbonation. Sour finish.

Mahogany pour with a cream colored head. Aroma holds cherry, acetic acid, wood, pear and vinous notes. Flavor is lots of funk, some lactic notes, and cherry. Palate isn’t as aggressive as I hoped, but still quite tasty. Solid brew.