Almanac Summer 2010

Almanac Beer Company
Formerly brewed at Drakes Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
San Francisco, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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Great sour/wild ale with light blackberry flavor and some good character from the wine barrels it’s aged in.

Bottle #416. Clear golden with a fluffy white head and champagne carbonation. Pleasant earthy and floral aroma of caramel, grape, vanilla, oak, blackberry, zinfandel character, and light hibiscus notes. Silky very bright and lively palate. Tart citrus, wine barrel, grape, and slightly sharp blackberry tastes with caramel, vanilla, and oak flavors on the finish. Some subtle lingering perfume and slightly oxidized notes on the far back end. Overall: well done.

Aroma has lots of Belgian yeast character along with some light fruitiness and some oak notes. A nondescript fruitiness - definitely not berry but there is a lot of fruit. A moderate phenolic note and some light oak aroma. Light alcohol character in the aroma. Pours a cloudy golden orange with some copper notes. A thin white head with pour retention. Some light lacing and small lacing. Some sweet malt character up front with a lot of fruitiness. Some light phenolic notes as well as a good amount of oak. Medium low acidity and tartness from the berries. Some alcohol in the finish and medium low bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium to medium full bodied with medium carbonation. Moderately high alcohol warmth and low astringency. The flavor is a bit muddled and I'm not sure what this beer was meant to be. The fruit character isn't very clean and gets hidden behind the yeast notes and clashes a bit instead of compliments. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

In short: A tired tart/oaky/tannic fruity golden ale.
How: Bottle 22oz shared by Max at post-HF Harvest 2012 party.
The look: Cloudy golden-amber body toped by a small off-white head.
In long: Nose is very oaky, I could smell the tannins (is it even physically possible?), dusty attic. Taste is hard-candy sweetness, plastic notes, dusty wood, some fruits, rust sensation, some old cheap white wine, some tannins, mild tartness. Supposed to be a blackberry beer but honestly even after reading the label I still couldn’t taste blackberries. Body was rather lifeless which didn’t help the beer. I don’t know if all existing bottles are in this poor shape, but clearly the bottle I tried was pretty much dead. This beer tasted so very tired, not sure if it was a problem with the beer or it was too old, I wish there was a way for me to know when it was brewed.

Bottle from Marco - thanks! Pours a semi-murky yellow with a bubbly white head that quickly fades to a slick. Aroma is a bit disjointed with wheat, oak, tart berry, red wine grapes, and sulphur off notes as it warms. Taste is tart, lightly fruity, and sour but fairly disorganized with a sharp, medicinal bitterness throughout. Clean mouthfeel. I did not like this beer.

Cloudy straw, small white head. A bit fruity and a little funky in the nose. Taste is strange, candy sugar sweetness, fruit and a bit of funk. Fizzy carb, light body.

Berrys are very present and their is some tartness but it is very tame. A bit sweet on the finish and a little boozy for an 8% beer. Not bad though.

bottle share at hill farmstead, getting drunk here, very light and lactic tartness, really want to retry

Sampled on 7/21/2012. Bottled on 5/29/11 Bottle # 3255. This fruit beer pours a medium orange gold color from a 750ml bottle. Medium sized white foamy head with decent lacing and nice retention. The aroma is fruity and sweet, some citrusy hops, some blackberries and some wood. A medium bodied fruit beer. The malts are fruity and sweet. The hops are citrusy. The blackberry flavors are behind the hops and the malts, complementing them rather than competing for attention. A really nice mix of citrusy hops, malts, wood and blackberries. The fruit flavor tends to intensify a little as it warms. Very smooth tasting. Very nice beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Pours golden honey in color with a bright white head. The aroma brings light fruity notes and sweet Belgian yeast. The flavor of of sweet malts and dry grapes on a dryer wine-like body, but still somewhat juicy from the blackberries.