3.9 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle shared at Bruce’s 30th Birthday Bash - CBC Clerkenwell, London. Thanks to Kenny the Incredible. Vintage 2008, Batch #10. Pours cloudy amber with a fine, creamy head. Nose holds some tangy, acetic berries, a bit of oak. Ligh to medium sweet flavor with lots of tangy berries, raspberry, grape, some vinous notes, good tartness. Medium bodied with average carbonation. Crisp, tangy, tart and quenching finish, with more zippy berries, vinous and oaky qualities, soft funk. Great stuff.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
9th February 2013
Bruce’s Birthday Bash at the Craft Clerkenwell. Batch #10. 2008. Bottle #1162. Cloudy brown beer, little pale tan head. Lightly sour nose. Palate is light, dry and slightly crisp. A little tart cherry and raspberry. It’s all reasonably mellow. Think the oaking has rounded things off nicely. Finishes light and semi dry.
4.3 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 17/20
The aroma is nicely sour with subtle smoke hints. Beautiful reddish brown color. Tastes wonderfully sour with tart cherry and raspberry flavors that pucker nicely. Overall a very nice beer.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Batch #10 bottle @ Bruce’s birthday tasting. Cheers to Ken for the pour! The appearance is deep amber red with a small head. The nose is grape jelly, some cherry. raspberry tartness. Hints of wild sourness and malevolent funk. The taste is honeyed raspberry and cherry fruit. Mild funky wildness. Hints of lactic yogurt tang. Moderately sour finish. Light body, zippy mouthfeel. Pretty solid beer.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle at Bruce’s 30th celebrations, 08/02/13, thanks to Ken. Batch #10, bottle #162, 2008 reserva.
Hazed mahogony brown with no head.
Nose is sour and tarte berry fruits, wood, balsamics, light fart, soured cherries.
Taste follows, big wood notes, souted cherries, tarte berry fruits.
Medium bodied with moderate carbonation, dry in the finish.
Decent.
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle (Batch #10, bottle 1162) at Bruce’s 30th, big thanks to Ken. It pours deep brown with a purple hue and small off-white head. The nose is fresh berry, cherry yoghurt, balsamic vinegar, oak and red wine. The taste is vinous, dark fruit, tart berry, berry yoghurt, red grape, juicy plum, light acidity, with a dry, lightly sour finish. Medium body, moderate carbonation and sticky mouth-feel. Nice fruitiness. Good depth of flavour and very well balanced. Alcohol is well hidden. Delicious.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle at Bruce’s b’day. Cloudy, murky brown, white foam head. Nose is sour yeast, cooking apples, red wine, black grape. Taste is sour, green apples, red wine, black grape juice. Combination works nicely with the red vinous notes softening the yeasty sours.
3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Batch #10 (2008), bottle 499: pours a mostly still transparent dark mahogany with a few stray off-white bubbles. Has a lightly sweet dark caramel nose with lots of tart fruits and vinous oak and a touch of vinegar. Starts mostly still with some mild black cherry sweetness giving way to earthy tartness and acetic oak before a slightly drier finish. Could definitely use more carbonation, but has pretty good complexity.
3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 18/20
2008 bottle. It pours a dark red color with almost no bubbles and zero head. I was worried about carbonation, but it does have a soft prickliness that served me just fine. The aroma jumped out as cheesy with some tart red fruit and a little wood. Lots of fruity red wine comes out more as it warms. No vinegar. The flavor is very pleasant with blackberries, currants, cherries and hints of vanilla, wood, tobacco and cheese. Again, no vinegar acetic acid. I was a bit disappointed with the mouthfeel and finish. It was a bit watery for an 8%er, and needed a tad more carbonation to keep it lively. I wouldn’t have minded the soft mouthfeel if the body had more depth. The flavors are real nice here though. Actually this goes down much too easy for an 8% sour.
4.2 AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
Batch 9, 2007. Real thanks to eaglefan538, or just "Brian", as I call him. ;). Deep cherry brown color. Just loads of sour aroma, vinegar and apples. Flavor was mellow, full of sour apples and vinegar, with lots of wood flavor...LOTS. Brian says it’s "tart and offensive when fresh" and he seemed to be pleased with the aging effects. Who am I to argue?
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