Birrificio del Ducato La Luna Rossa

Brewed by Birrificio del Ducato
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Roncole Verdi di Busseto (PR), Italy

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: JAN 13, 2013 Bottle at ACBF 2011. Pours cloudy, ruby-brown with a few bubbles for a head. Sour nose with some syrupy sugar hints. Perhaps notes of toffee. Oh yeah, this is a sour flavor. Lots of maraschino cherries, perfect sweetness, some honey, tart fruits. Medium bodied with tingly carbonation. Faintly warming finish, lip-puckering sourness, light sugars. Lingering sour notes. Great beer. (4.1)

Bottle at the ChrisO Holiday Tasting, London - thanks to Colin. Pours lightly hazy amber-brown with a fine, white foam head. Tangy fruit nose, some plums and berries. Big sour flavor, tart berries, some funk. Salty and sweaty. Light to medium bodied with fine carbonation. Big tangy finish, plenty of tart berries, sweat. Nice stuff. (3.9)

This isn’t really an "American Wild", it’s an Italian wild in my opinion. My understanding is that it’s the same base beer as L’Ultima Luna, so it’s an Italian Barleywine, then aged in Nebbiolo barrels and aged with sour cherries. This bottle says "Cuvee 2009, Bottle No. 222". This one pours a syrupy, dirty amber in color, medium bodied with little to no lacing. Having had their other beers, it looks on par. The aromas are full of lacto, sour cherries, cinnamon, fermenting cherries, some brett, light vinegar, funk, more funk, and has a weird cider aspect. Very complex nose if you give it time. The flavors consist of acidic cherries, reminiscent of perhaps an old world red wine, lacto, barnyard, and sweet red fruits. Interesting and complex. You also get some light oak barrel as well. For a beer from Del Ducato, it has an above average mouthfeel. Their beers tend to be pretty flat but this one is on key. It drinks very well and leaves your mouth slightly dry. This is one unique beer. It took them a couple years to make. Again, hats off to the Italians for this one. It was very good. This is worth your while if you’re willing to lay down the $18.99 a bottle.

Cherry, barnyard, caramel and alcohol aromas. Cherry, caramel and a little raisin from the amarone flavors. Very interesting and and complex. Finishes with cherry. Overall an outstanding wild ale. Bottle #0247

This sounds like a farfetched idea. A barley wine aged in Amarone casks with cherries is blended with a sour ale fermented for two years. Thats just crazy talk. The pour is a murky, muddy brown with a thin barely existant foam head that dies to nothing. A surprising amount of carbonation in the bottle. The nose has a primarily acetic vinegar aroma with tart, sour cherries and a slight alcohol presence. Tons of sharp red wine characteristic and some mild funky brett. The malts are noticeable on the nose, but mostly overpowered by the sour and vinious notes. In the middle, there is a honeyed, caramel and bready malt with notes of cherries, plums, wood and grapes. The finish is sour and tart with a powerful acetic tang and tart cherry taste. There is a moderate amount of prickly carbonation on the tongue to start off but it dies down really quickly. The body is medium and the finish is dry with prolonged sourness. Overall, a beautiful sour and fruity beer with an interesting maltiness and wine like taste.

2009 bottle (#537) at Birch & Barley. Cloudy flat chestnut color, no head or lacing. Aroma of sour and spiced caramel, if that’s possible. Taste is deeply sour apple skins, grapefruit, stone fruit. Very nice.

Una birra di Dio! Raffinatissimo blend tra un barley e una sour ale, il tutto messo a maturare in botte per un risultato sorprendente. Un birrone, a cui solo una nota di aceto un po’ eccessiva sottrae qualche punto.

Bottle. Label shows 8% ABV. Cuvee 2009 Bottle # 0246. Murky brown with a spotty, tan, foam ring. Strong sour fruit and red wine notes in the aroma along with grape skins and wet oak. Taste is strong sour fruit, sour cherries, grape skins, hints of red wine, wet oak, funky yeast and earthiness. Body is slightly carbonated with a light fizziness and is medium overall with a strong acidic notes and a pleasant dryness which is somewhat typical for sour ales. Ends with more sour fruit notes, wet wood, damp earthy notes, sour cherries, grape skins, and funky yeast.

Bottle@Home, label says 8%, vintage 2009. Absoluut amazing aroma, Very fruity, cherry, orange, definitely sour, cheese, oak, barnyard. Orange/amber, almost no head but beige. Sweet, very sour, almost vinegar, light bitterness, lots of fruit, cherry, orange and more. Smooth, light bite from the sourness. Absolutely great beer.

Aroma is wine, brett, wood, cherry. Flavour is wine, red fruit and a subtle sourness. Nice one.

At ACBF 2011. Deep deep orange colour. Wow that is sour. Great funk on aroma. Lovely aroma but proper vinegar sour aggressiveness on the finish. Terrific. Some honeyed sweetness. But I like it.