Arbor Penumbra

Brewed by Arbor Brewing Company Pub & Eatery
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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Pouring at the Michigan Brewers Festival during RBSG. Pours a hazy brown with a medium sized beige head. Lavender, spice, juniper, mint, vanilla. So interesting and complex. Soft spices, almost cancelling out each other, but still vaguely present. Smooth and light, very cool. Quite interesting.

(thanks to thirdeye11) chamomile, vanilla, lemon, blackberry, please send a full keg to dallas, tx. thanks.

bottle thanks to nellie. poured yellow with no head. nose is acidic, tart, lacto?. easy on the palate, sour, tartness makes the mouth water, wood, delicious.

(12oz bottle, courtesy of Nellie) Pours a lightly hazy copper body with a small white head. Aroma of rhubarb, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon, florals, passion fruit, and tangerine. Flavor of vinegar, raspberries, pineapple, rhubarb, tangerine, lemon, vanilla, spruce, and florals with a dry oak finsh.

(12oz bottle via trade with deyholla, thanks Derek!) clear rich orange with still body. Nose of chamomile, chai, well integrated spices, raspberry, tangerine, subtle honey. Quite complex. Taste of tart tangerine, chai, chamomile, lemon, bourbon, raspberry, rosemary, herbal, currants, very tart. Great finishing taste on the palate!

This is a great example of when the kitchen sink beer actually worked really really well. It turned out complex and delicious! Loved it!

12oz Bottle. Thanks Sean! A more or less uncarbonated pour of hazy golden orange liquor and a barely-there coarse soapy head. Aroma bursts in strong tropical fruit, brett, and candied apples. Flavors are puckery and tart. This has a strong and solid clean citric and lactic acid presence, that’s balanced by slightly cooked fruits, red grapefruit, gooseberry, and lemon/lime. I really love the flavor profile and the texture of the beer. The acidity is fresh and clean, but never harsh or biting. The flavor profile is just delightful. I would drink pint, upon pint of this ultimately well-flavored and well-balanced sour ale, but where’s the carbonation? With carbonation, potentially world class. Without, a mild tragedy, really. POSTSCRIPT: After reading this beer’s description, I’m blown away. How could such a mess of ingredients ever not make something completely muddled and messy, potentially disastrous? Epic, in that regard really.

Sampled on tap at the MiBGSM ’10 (Ypsilanti, MI). Pours a muddy murky brown, well clouded with a wishy offwhite head that dies to near nothing, maybe some loose bubbles on the edges. Aromas are pretty intense, berry fruit mixes with decent sourness, lactic acid, funky and dusty brett, some light biscuity and bready malts move in. Vanilla tannins and wet oak, perhaps a bit offputting is the lingering spice rack feel. Chamomile has a telltale scent, and it sticks. Lavendar, nuttiness, and a touch of leafy green mint. Initial is muddled, sour fruits, bready malts, oak, brett, and spices of chamomile and lavendar take over. It certainly is complex, a touch of mint, vanilla, earthy malts. It sounded like a cool idea, but it’s just too vague and largely loses itself within the boat load of elements thrown in. Ok overall, tasty, just trying to do far too much and not doing any of the strengths it COULD have offered particularly well.

sampled at MBSF....poured a cloudy muddy apple cider river watter brown pour with a very thin head... aroma filled with spices of rosemary thyme, some earth, and a sour/tart component as well... semi-earthy flavors, much akin to many of these arbor sours, with a huge amalgamation of spices with a lighter sour aspect.....not a favorite.

Served on draft at the Michigan Summer Beerfest, 2010, as part of RBSG festivities. Pours a hazy purplish blue color with a minimal head. Aroma of lightly tart fruit notes, primarily blueberries, some earthy and herbal notes, and caramel. The taste is tart, fresh blueberries, some herbal notes and a tart finish. Medium bodied. Quite interesting.

On tap at Corner. Poured a very cloudy yellow brown with a purple hue and a white head that lasted. Aroma was full of blackberries with spices and other fruits and just a hint of bourbon. Flavor begins fruity and full of spices with chamomile coming out and the finish quickly became tart blackberries and very dry. When I first heard about this brew I thought there was no way it would turn out, but it definitely did!