Arbor Demetrius Barrel Aged Sour Double IPA

Formerly brewed at Arbor Brewing Company Pub & Eatery
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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This one has sat in the back of the fridge for a little while; I have definitely been a bit of wimp on this one, a sour IPA, hmm….

As has become habit for this brewery, the cork on this beer was a complete PITA to remove. A steady pour into my Lost Abbey Teku glass produces a scant, quarter-finger thick, pale tan tinged head. The beer is a pretty, red-amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, richly bright amber hue when held up to the light. Weird, the aroma smells of herbal and plastic like notes. A bit more digging reveals some citrusy hop components. The hops are definitely the dominant note in the aroma, but they are seriously influenced by something else; this is clearly not a “regular” IPA. In fact much of the other character is actually spicy oak and woody notes; now that I have distinguished the oak from the herbal hop character I am realizing that it is almost on an equal footing with the hop notes (though not quite).

Up front the beer tastes sour and citrusy, it still has a touch of sweet maltiness to it, though only just a hint. The first part of my sip is actually quite clean and interesting. As the beer rolls across the tongue it gets a touch less integrated, the sourness and hops begin to clash a little bit more, though not nearly as much as I was fearing. The finish reminds me of grapefruit like hop notes, a solid bitterness (though this is much reduced compared to a standard IPA), and a lightly lingering sourness. The sourness is more prominent up front and especially in the middle of each sip, while the hop character seems to be most noticeable towards the finish. This still has a fair amount of body to it, and it has a bit more carbonation than the scant head suggested; while this is not a heavy beer, it has some viscousness to it and doesn’t come off as watered down in any way. The barrel / oak character isn’t quite as noticeable as it was in the aroma, but it is definitely still here with fresh cut woody notes, some spiciness that leans towards woody pepper and higher alcohol like spice (sort of what is found in Bourbon). The sourness here is not so aggressive that it overwhelms / unbalances the hop / oak combination, and the fact that this doesn’t have a lot of the funky phenolics that are often found in wilder sour beers helps this to remain far more integrated than I would have expected; there is perhaps a hint of medicinal / plastic phenolic character here, but it is now at an extremely subtle level.

Wow, I was certainly expecting the worst from this beer, it has actually ended up being quite enjoyable. I am sure the fact that this has sat in my fridge for the past 9 months has likely helped this beer (especially going on what some of the other reviews are like); who knows what has happened to this bottle in that time. Looking at some others notes, it is apparent that there really isn’t much of a Brett presence left in this beer, and this is likely a really good thing. The flavor is just so well integrated and tasty; I would never have guessed that the combination of hops, sour and oak would have worked so well together. This is a beer that had to grow on me, not because it wasn’t interesting from the get-go, but because of my preconceived notions about this beer. This ends up being thoroughly enjoyable, and if you give this beer enough time to thoroughly settle (especially since the more recent reviews of this on the net suggest that the bottle was not allowed to settle properly), I would highly recommend this beer at this moment in time and at least into the near future.

750ml bottle thanks to bu11zeye. Cloudy dark amber with some bubbly off-white head. Nose of oak, tangerine, and tobacco. Flavor is vinous and funky with lots of wood and grapefruit. Nice mix of tart and bitter.

Bottle. Variegated golden brown color, thick tan head with good retention, solid lacing. Aroma of dusty brown bread and light citrus, with a touch of spice. Taste is an odd but interesting combination of bitter and sour that pretty much works, with a peppery finish that just a bit too bitter. Overall, a nice try that is certainly unique.

(750ml bottle thanks to bu11zeye - Rating #3600!) opaque orange pour with a lasting fine tan bubbled head. Nose of tangerine, wet wood, cherry, tobacco, a really well balanced nose. Taste is funky, currants, berries, cream, wet wood, tangerine and peel, vinous, creamy body with an earthy berry linger.

Thanks to bu11zeye for sharing this bottle. The beer pours an orange color with a white head. The aroma is full of toffee with some tart cherry notes. The beer smells fairly sour. The flavor has quite a bit of funk to it, but there is also some sour cherry notes. The main malt component to the flavor is toffee. I get a lot of oak and also a little bit of pineapple and orange citrus notes, presumably from the IPA’s hops. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. An interesting beer, but I really liked it.

MiBG Summer Fest 2011. much better than expected considering all of the ratings. orange body with white head. aroma of berry, vinegarette, and tea leaves. flavor takes the tea leaves/herbal aspect, and adds sour funk, cherry, and oak

Bottled, thanks to bu11zeye, orange color with a funky lemon aroma, flavors are sour patch, oaky pineapples,

Tasted on 5/24/11 from a 750mL corded and caged bottle obtained in a trade. Pours cloudy blood orange with a thin bubbly white head that quickly recedes to nothing more than a thin collar of lace. The nose is oaky with vanilla and cinnamon caramel malt, brett funk, old hops (not in a bad way), watermelon rind, fresh mint, and lightly sour. The flavor is acidic, sour, and funky with caramel malt, watermelon rind, and vanilla oak. The body is medium with very light carbonation and a lon sour, funky, and caramel finish. This is one of the most unique beers I have ever had.

(750ml bottle) Pours a hazy amber body with a small cream head. Aroma of grass, pineapple, grapefruit, lime, leather, and oak. Flavor of brett, citrus, pineapple, herbs, and oak.

Thanks to Eric for this tick...this was the hardest beer I’ve ever opened, top of the cork broke, a wine bottle didn’t budge it, I had pound it through...pours an ugly murky brown with a light tan head, ugly beer... aroma is not very good, wet oak with sour hops, some how comes off with hot chili pepper notes... OMG the taste is terrible. I literally yelled out "Oh my god this is terrible" and my gf was like "what’s going on?"’, burnt wet oak, attacking bitter hops, generic sour... this is a complete mess to avoid