3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 2/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
This is like Fizzy wine, except it doesn’t have a tannin roughness. It has a lot of cheery aroma, and it looks like a muddy cloudy mess. It could have had a head.
It’s both weird and wonderful, and also wine and beer. I’m not going out to buy another but if I wanted to impress my wine-drinking mates this might be the thing that’d turn them. It’s a strong beer well hidden, be careful :-)
It made me smile.
3.8 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 1/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 17/20
This beer will not win a prize at a beauty contest. It appears murky red like badly fermented wine. The head, such as it is, sits in a greenish brown gibbous crescent across the top of the beer. There are flecks of dark sediment across the bottom of the glass and a few sparkles of carbonation rising reluctantly to the top. Was I expecting perfection? No. No I wasn’t and so I am not in the least disappointed. The predominant aroma of the beer is cherryvite. Sweet, ripe red cherries rendered down into a cordial and sprinkled liberally with slightly armpit-type Belgian funk. The combination is not in the least bit off-putting and promises a sweet dance across the palate with vestiges of kriek-like sour. So am I right? Yes I am. It is gratifyingly sour with woody oak toward the mid-point of appreciation. Far from being cloyingly sweet, it dried and coated the mouth with a tannic film. This is a chewy beer: you open it and think that it will take a while to drink, you smell it and think, maybe not so long after all, and then you taste it and know you’ll be enjoying each others’ company for a good half an hour, maybe longer. I award this beer marks for its inventiveness, the satisfaction of its flavour and the overall reward. It polarises my thoughts and makes me think about what it is I like about each individual element of beer. I’m glad this beer came along.
Could be one to add to my cellaring programme.
4.7 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 18/20
UPDATED: APR 26, 2013 HTH with Aurora Borealis: This is a fantastic and balanced beer. Beautiful flavours, great sourness, magnificent mouthfeel, and inconspicuous ETOH level. You can appreciate the barrel treatment. By far the best Abt/Quad / sour in Australasia; a tribute to this formidable brewer. Other brewers please take note!
4.5 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 19/20
Wow. Wow. Complex. Beautiful Pinot Noir aroma with a hint of "beeryness". Fruity(dates, figs, raisins). Nice tan head, initially with cloudy dark amber colour. Head dissipates quickly, which one would assume for a beer of 11% ABV. The taste is amazing. Like a Trappist Quad beer but somehow more complex. Like a beautiful red wine. Hint of, dare I say, blue cheese funk, which is amazing. Perfect balance with bitterness and sweetness. Smokey finish. As enjoyable as any of the Abt’s I have tried and somehow more complex. Wonderful.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Pours a very murky brown with little carbonation. Very subtle aroma but as it warms up starts to show that this beer is not the norm. Sourness up front, with pinot coming though the middle. Finish is dry. I think the majority of beer drinkers will hate this beer, but luckily Soren is not making for the majority. Should be known that I was also not a fan of the Sultan which is the base, but oak aging + yeasty magical goodness has made this a better beer.
|
