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Home > Brewers > California > Alpine Beer Company (CA) >

Alpine Beer Company Chez Monieux


 Percentile 
90
overall
A Sour Ale brewed by
Alpine Beer Company (CA)

Alpine, California USA

bottled
common

on tap
available

Local Distribution
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 Ratings  Average  Score  Seasonal  ABV  Style Pctl  Serve in  Advanced 
863.62/5.03.61/5.0Special5.8%45.6 Snifter P  Stats

Commercial Description:
A Belgian Lambic aged in red wine barrels. Generous amounts of the tart montmorency cherry were added after 12 months of aging. Sour from lactic and acetic acids produced from special wild yeasts. A delicious tart, sour treat.

Most RecentTop RatersHighest Ratings Who's Rated This?
 tytoanderso (1183), St. Louis Park, Minnesota, USA
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/103/514/20

May 10, 2008  
750 ml bottle. Pours an odd shade of orangeish pink. Nearly still in appearance with a thin white film and virtually no head. Aroma of tart cherries, stomach acid, vinegar, some light strawberry notes, cinnamon. Interesting. Tart and acidic but lacking in complexity. Plenty of lacto sourness. Huge cherry concentrate presence. Lots of wine tannin on the finish. Fairly straightforward sour with a few twists along the way. Thanks Steven!

 Hophead22 (166), Redlands, California, USA
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/56/104/515/20
Aug 31, 2008  
750ml bottle. poured a light red/pink color, short lasting white head that stays on the edges. Smells very sour and dry, salivary glands kick in everytime I smell it, slight cherry as well. pretty sour upfront, then diminishes very nicely. Not bad.


 BlackForestCO (521), Fort Collins and Black Forest, Colorado, USA
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/57/103/514/20
Aug 31, 2008  
Bottle thanks to dirty_martini, thanks for the hook up Larry! Poured a clear, light pink color with a thin white head that diminished to a ring. Aroma of tart cherries, funky brett, faint barnyard character, and a hint of oak. Moderately tart, funky yeast entry leads into a moderately sweet cherry flavor and transitions into a moderately tart, light barnyard funk with a touch of drying oak. Low carbonation, nice drying character. Overall, a solid effort from Alpine.


 Ernest (4227), Boulder, Colorado, USA
3.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/58/103/515/20
Aug 31, 2008  
Bottle. Head is initially small, fizzy, off-white, fully diminishing. Body is hazy dark pink. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), lightly yeasty (barnyard), with notes of cherry, wood, and band-aid. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Quite nice, cherries are not overdone thankfully, decent amount of sourness. Another cool example of American sour ale brewing. Nice to see this trend starting to offset the overdone DIPA and bourbon barrel trends.


 acrdz (4297), Boulder, Colorado, USA
3.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/57/104/514/20
Aug 30, 2008  
Sample from a 750ml bottle. Pours clear pink (filtered? it’s not bottle conditioned, at least). Nose is soft cream, mellow lactobacillus prickliness, fruit note is tart but candied and resembles jolly ranchers without the extreme sweetness. Prickly and soft up front, medium frothiness, mild sourness, mild acidity, leaves a lasting dry tartness on the tongue. Good overall, I like it, especially the lingering dryness, but the rest of it, I like it but I’m not exactly sure why,


 Crosling (1644), Loveland, Colorado, USA
3.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/102/57/103/514/20
Aug 30, 2008  
Pinkish yellowish color. Small white head that unfortunately doesn’t have any pink shades. Fairly nice nose with hints of cherries, as well as some wood. Flavor doesn’t have a lot of depth, but has some nice elements of cherry , sourness and wood. Nice balance of sweet and sour. I like this ale quite a bit.




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