Captain Lawrence Cuvee de Castleton

Brewed by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Elmsford, New York USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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Bottle. Yellowish orange in color with a small white head. Grapefruit tart aroma with pine notes. Piney appley flavor. Tart flavor. Finish is fruity and tart almost makes your mouth pucker. All the flavors blend well together. Very sour ale. Very nice beer. Great.

UPDATED: DEC 27, 2007 Bottle from trade with The_Epeest. Thanks Chris! Pours a hazy golden orangish yellow color with a small off white head. Aroma of sour grapes, grapefruit and wood. Slightly tart and musty. Flavor is very tart of lemon and grapefruit. Definately has the pucker action happening. Complexed and tastefully refreshing and drinkable.

Pours a hazy cloudy peachy, bacteria looking gueze or Berliner Weisse appearance with a fizzy spritzy head. Aroma is sharp and tart with lots of acidity, lactic acid- tons of bacteria, gueze and lambic like, with some sharp and horsy brett character with a striking acetobacter note as it warms (this is becoming a bit more pronounced everytime I have it). Sharp acidic lactic flavor with lemon and lime juice and zest, citrusy, horsey and bretty, funk and a killer mouth puckering sour finish. As it warms some of the grapeskin and tannins come out a bit and add to the sour and astringent mouthfeel. There are times when I have had this and the body is prety substantial, and other times when it was a bit weak and watery, but it is always sour as hell, and that is what I like. Makes my mouth water while smelling and sipping on this stuff. Great sour ale.

Courtesy boboski. Pours a real light yellow color with big white bubbles at the edges. Initially, there is a distinct pure grapefruit aroma (not hop-like, though). As the beer warms, a lemon zest aroma becomes more apparent. Some funk and tartness, but not strong. Medium-bodied, well-carbonated. Crisp taste, some sour and tartness there, but really floral and citrusy. Would like to try a bottle 6 months down the road.

Courtesy boboski. Thanks for your generosity as usual. Pours a hazy light golden yellow. Looks like lemon juice. Small white head. Very cool looking. Wow, big grapefruit nose, grapes, acidity, funk, very nice. Like opening up grapefruit juice on Saturday morning before cartoons. Flavor was luscious, nice lemon, tartness, fruits, all pungent. white grapes come to mind. Sourness doesnt pucker the cheeks, but its there. Great job.

UPDATED: JUL 5, 2007 Bottle. Strange looking orange, yellow, gold color with a small head. Has a strange tart aroma like pineapple and grapefruit juice mixed together. The first sip though and you know this is going to be a complex beer and difficult to describe. The pineapple and grapefruit is first apparent but theres a woody, pine, apple flavor that all mingles together, first separate then as the beer warms, melds all together. The tartness is similar, blending gracefully after warming a bit. The carbonation is there, actually vivid and lively at first and I found myself swirling the glass for more later. This is a beer that will probably not improve with age and is really perfectly drinkable at 6% now.

UPDATED: MAR 1, 2009 Courtesy boboski. Hazy pale yellow. Small white head. Looks like lemon or grapefruit juice. Aroma of sour, musty white grapefruit, lemon juice, funky yeast, white grapes, green leaves, citrus tree bark. Same flavors- crisp, refreshing. Medium/full body, balanced carbonation, easy drinking. Awesome.

Batch 1. Extra point and esteem held for a very interesting appearance. Looks just like spritzy, white grapefruit juice. Very cloudy body and a fully diminishing and extremely short-lived white head. Grassy notes are a soft prelude to a smashing onslaught of grape juice and oaken barrels that amalgamate to simulate a grapefruit juice component that is heady, though far more pleasant and diverse in complexities than the real juice is. Notes of vanilla and acidic lemon rinds creep forward as if pushed from behind. This sample is very fresh and the Brettanomyces has yet to become forceful. Flowery noble hops emerge as the sample warms to near room temperature. Spicy acidity bites at the senses. On a night of sampling much greater than average beers, this aroma is unique enough to ingrain itself into my sensory memory for years to come. The flavor is intoxicating long before alcohol takes its standard hold upon my palate and mindset. Sweetness is held in check by the brett looming in the shadows, as well as the tannic vanilla bean touches. The finish is very acidic and mostly lemony, with oak notes and vanilla and grape lingering for a great while. Carbonation is spritzy and well integrated into the whole experience. The mouthfeel is sugggestive of a Mimosa: spritzy carbonation angrily mingling with pulpy juices. Palate is light bodied, syrupy at times but mostly lively and refreshing, very tart. This definitely doesn’t fit into any traditional style category....just one more reason to love it. Captain Lawrence does it again. An awesome experience.

750mL bottle, batch 1; many thanks to Scott for this one! The carbonation on this is a bit nuts: I spent the last few minutes covering the top of the bottle while trying to wash out a tulip glass with one hand. Very fizzy pour, with carbonation reminiscent of pouring a soda: fizzy, effervescent, and quickly gone, leaving a cloudy, dull golden color without any sign of head: almost like grapefruit juice. Everything afterwards is exquisite. Dense, layered aroma, showing some brett and funk and sour cherries and grapefruit; mouthwatering tartness, with a pleasant citrus and fruity core. Average carbonation. Generous mouthfeel: dense, jaw-poking tartness at the forefront, with plenty of lively citrus and grapefruit and cherries; excellent density of fruit, with some tropical stuff in there as well: pineapple and passion fruit; some toasty vanilla and buttery notes find their way in from the barrel, along with the wonderful, generous fruit profile. Lengthy, tart citrus and light oak finish. Definitely an interesting take on the style: less cherries than usual, with a lively citrus spritziness and a pleasant tropical fruit twist, and an effervescence suggesting Champagne.

(750ml bottle) Pours a cloudy yellow with a medium (quickly diminishing) white head. Aroma of mustiness, sour grapefruit (as it is peeled; the zest), and woodiness. Flavor of sour grapes, citrus, and brett with a subtle wood finish. If you like sour this is the beer for you!