Crooked Stave Batch#1 - Wild Wild Brett

Brewed by Crooked Stave
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Denver, Colorado USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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750 ml bottle from my 1st Year Crooked Stave Membership. Still hadn’t opened one yet. Pours a deeper brownish rusty pour, glowing copper edges, berry and red wine flashes in hue, good haziness. A cakey tannish head atop is a firm layer, laces ok overall and sticks around as a small layer. Nice deep hues, good darker middle, red wine and good glow on the edges and bottom. Aromas are a good raspberry kick, tannic raspberry skin, pulpy with some firm winey elements, some Balsamic elements. Good sour and funky front end, the gentle bready and biscuity malt element comes in a bit. Firm funk, sour more vinegar presence hits the nose. Dust, funk, and cobwebs. Bigger oak presence. It’s certainly on the assertive side. Initial is lighter end of medium bodied, juicy raspberry front end, pulpy and seedy, raspberry and tannic skin, juicy sour berry, touches of lactic acidity. Some decent funk, some red wine. Bigger fruity sour front, crimson berry, juice. Lemon, touches of red wine as we move into the middle. A little effervescent, sour raspberry and some cherry, more raspberry pulp. Middle is sour, lactic and firm. It’s not acedic but it is assertive. Some red wine, firm oak, some yogurt. Not really the Balsamic feeling I thought was imminent. Fuzzy and sour as we round the corner, the backend shows a lot more brett, funky, dry and spicy feel. A bit heavy handed on ABV for me as we get back there, a touch offensive. Good pulpy and seedy berry feel returns as we move back. Raspberry, oak, and lactic acidity. Yogurt, seedy raspberry and lemony pucker. Firm oak, brett as we finish. This goes through the rounds for me, really on up front and as we finish, a touch hot and brash somewhere into the backend. Pretty nice sour, good body, a touch brash in the middle/backend as I said but a bigger seedy and sour raspberry presence without getting acedic is quite the win here. Tasty.

Thanks for this one, Aaron! Hazy dark amber pour with an off-white head. Big raspberry aroma, oak, and sweet caramel. Tart lemon, light vinegar, grass, and a hint of vanilla. Good sweetness to the flavor of raspberry, caramel, and vanilla. Sour fruit, lemon, and vinegar. Some oak, grass, and a light mustiness.

Bottled. Huge raspberry nose, acid, funk, wood. Very nice. Cloudy, dirty red-brown with lace. Quite sour flavor, nice fruit, wood, minerals, acid and vanilla. Quite nice, though a bit unrefined.

750 ml bottle, brewed on 1/10/10. Pours dark ruby amber with a fizzy off white head that quickly goes to a thin collar that leaves a little lacing.

The aroma is a nice blend of sweet candy sugary malts and tart sour raspberries and vinous alcohol. There is a slight note of butyric acid (vomit).

The flavor is sweet candy sugar with a huge acidic tart/sour raspberry flavor. There’s some woody notes and vinous alcohol. The mouthfeel is a little thin and watery with low, but sharp, carbonation.

Overall, tastes a little sweet / sour like Duchesse, but with a much bigger tart sourness that overwhelms the sweet - almost a little too much, but fun.

The original, a solid fixture in the lineu. THis one as it is un-flavored but with the yeast carries a strong clean brett character.

Bottle big thanks to adnielsen!!! Pours a murky maroon brown color with a frothy pinkish brown foam that settles out fairly quickly. On the nose its deep tart complexity at its best; tangy raspberry, wet woody funk, earthy and a touch of vinegar. The palate is bright and full of jammy raspberry notes that keep it amazingly drinkable yet still funky and complex in the mid to late palate. Lots of earthy tang and a refreshing finish.

750ml bottle (thanks for sharing Josh!). Poured a hazy amber color with a smaller sized off white head. Brett, berries, funky, some woodiness, and cherries.

Bottle at a Chriso tasting, London - many thanks to Bill. Pours cloudy, grapefruit pink with a fine, off-white cream head. Old raspberry in the aroma, light puke, tart berries. Strong, sharp sourness in the flavor, light to medium sweetness, big tart raspberry character. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Sharp tart finish, moderately dry, with lingering fresh berry tartness. Great stuff.

Bottle. Pours burgundy with off white/light tan head. Nose/taste of tart raspberries, oak, cocoa, vinegar, wild yeast and mild stomach acid. Quite acidic. Medium body. Old fruit finish.

UPDATED: MAY 14, 2013 Thanks, Mac! Wow, fruity and sour as hell. Brett meets raspberries and it’s love at first sight. Barrel character adds complexity to the intense blast of flavors assaulting my palate. Highly acetic; not for the faint of heart. This brew exemplifies what I love about American sours.