Captain Lawrence Fool’s Gold

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: FEB 24, 2010 Draft @ EBF NOTB 2010 Blend. Dry hopped golden sour. Golden pour, with some white head. Tasted almost like a blend of a belgian golden ale, and an american sour.

A Sim rate (Extreme Beer Fest Night of the Barrels): Sweet & sour all at once. Citric with a bit of saltiness. Lemon in the flavour with a bit of a Belgian yeasty twist. Biscuity finish with a fizzy palate.

Tap at the brewery (sample from Rich, thanks!) Pours a cloudy golden with a rich dense off white head that retains well. Funky bright aroma- both lactic and hoppy with that nice haystack funky leathery presence that fades the aged hops. Creamy body- very dry flavor. Leathery, funky with a cheese rind presence and lots of dusty herbal and dry hop notes. This stuff was delicious and way more developed than the original Fool’s Gold.
Earlier Rating: 11/21/2008 Total Score: 3.3
Gravity Cask at Blind Tiger VSK 2008: Hazy headless golden pour. Mild citric aroma with acetic character, pineapple and a wild yeast/leather note. Slick body, with an odd mineral oil aspect to the flavor. It was almost fishy somehow, reminiscent of oysters, quite odd. There’s some pineapple notes with only mild tartness. A touch of grain/pale malt come through towards the finish with a mild lemon note. Not as much wild yeast depth as I anticipated.

In short: A nice tart, refreshing, fruity sour blonde ale. Excellent.
How: Tap at Boston Extreme Beer Fest 2010. Night Of The Barrel session.
The look: Cloudy yellow body topped by a medium white head
In long: Nose is wild and moderately sour. Taste is fruity (tropical fruits), cheese notes, nice wild character, tart, moderately sour. Not very intense by sour ale standard but this beer focuses more on drinkability than intensity. The type of sour ale I could drink in large quantity. This was the best of all the Captain Lawrence sour ales served at Extreme Beer Fest 2010. And everybody talked to agreed with me that this was the best Captain Lawrence at the festival, although how much of this had something to do with the large loaded gun I was carrying is up for debate.
Earlier Rating: 3/4/2009 Total Score: 3.1
In short: A low intensity fruity almost-sour ale with grassy hops. Surprisingly a bit bland.
How: Tap at Boston Extreme Beer Fest 2009
The look: Cloudy dark yellow body topped by a little white ring of foam
In long: A tiny funkiness and a tiny bit sour, this ain’t an intense face twister sour ale. Far from it. A little white grapes, a little green apples, a light grapefruit hint. Weird hops in the finish that really felt like chewing the juice from freshly cut grass. Overall this is light on intensity and felt a bit empty. Body was a little lifeless. A decent beer but as a Captain Lawrence special beer and I felt let-down like an overweight Texan excited to try McDonald’s newest menu item, the McTofu Salad.

2oz sample at NOTB
Appearance : Hazy pale yellow no head
Aroma : Lactic sour and a bit tart. Some oak
Taste : Lactic, oak and tart.
Overall : Well made but too lactic for me.

Draft at NOTB. Pours a golden hazy body with a white head. Floral cheese notes with some light swiss and leather and a hint of almond or a light woody tone. Lemon notes with bacteria and a funky cheesy citrus, mild acidity with a tart finish. Nice sour ale.
Earlier Rating: 2/23/2009 Total Score: 3.8
EBF Draft, poured by Scott. Pale hazy golden body with a thin white lacing. Tart and citric fruits in the aroma. Pineapple, citrus and a hint of passion fruit. Lighly woody with a dry tart citric finish. I enjoyed this offering.

Pouring at EBF’s Night of the Barrels. Pours a rather suiting hazy gold with a thin beige head. Cheesy funky, a bit sweet. Nice sour funkiness throughout. A little nutty and young, like all of the CL EBF sours, but still tasty.

Gravity keg at barcade. Poured a cloudy med amber. Sour nose. A bit thin in the mouthful. Nicely soured some dried fruits and a bit acidic. I also tasted a hint of corn that I did not care for.

EBF NOTB. Murky Gold in color. Aroma of brett, citrus, some weird funk, and some earthy hops. Taste: doesn’t seem like it was fully ready- lightly tart with some brett, apples, citrus, and some earthy hops which seemed to clash with the brett and citrus character. I’m sure this will get better with age.

Gravity Cask at BT VSK 08 night. Pours a ok thin filmy and cobwebby head over a hazy deep golden body. Moslty flat (of course) but with the slickness and strange sourness it felt even more flat than some gravity beers do. Some off funkiness in the aroma- leathery and earthy with some green apple and off grassy hops. Flavor has a lot of lambic pedio sickness almost ropey and oily throughout with some hops trying to cover it up- slick with a slight tartness in the end. I wasn’t felling this one- most likely was not ready yet.