Since there wasn’t much info on their website about the beer their website, I got the next best thing, I photographed the copy on the bottle.

Appearance:

Initially poured with a pretty decent beige head which was quickly eaten away by the massive torrent of bubbles steaming from the bottom of the glass.  This beer is a gorgeous, a deep garnet color with intense ruby highlights.

Aroma:

Like intensely hoppy aromatic beers, I could sit and smell that oaky, sour, fruity, tobacco aroma for hours.  Yet at the same time it smells so nice that I don’t want to wait, it has high drink anticipation quality; a beer who’s aroma builds excitement to drink the beer.

Taste:

Russian River Consecration

With such an inviting aroma, this beer does not let done on the flavor.  The first sip strikes as an intense sour right on the tip of your tongue, nice rounding fruitiness accompanies the sour from start to finish.  To me the fruitiness tasted like cranberries, even though this beer was aged with currents.  Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever had a current…anyway.  Right in the middle there is a nice push of tobacco and oak with a hint of funkiness that quickly gets walloped by that long dry cranberry (current) sourness.  Now for me a great marker of a good sour,  you can lick the sour off the front of your teeth and this beer hits that mark!

Glassware: Tulip or Snifter

Overall Impression:

A truly great sour beer.  I loved tart fruitiness with the strong sour.  Definitely one to go out and find, if you can.

Russian River Consecration Batch 003 is a post from: Simply Beer

Here is how Nøgne-Ø describes the beer:

Et samarbeid mellom Mikkeller og Nøgne Ø. Et tyttebærøl brygget med Brettanomyces og bakterier. Ølet tok 9 måneder å gjære, og trengte ytterligere 8 måneders modning på flaske før det ble sluppet for salg. Denne ale er meget tørr og syrlig. De 1000 kg med håndpressede tyttebær, har satt et tydelig preg.

What can’t read Norwegian?  Ok, translated into english:

A collaboration between Mikkeller and Nøgne E. A tyttebærøl brewed with Brettanomyces, and bacteria. The beer took 9 months to ferment, and needed a further 8 months of maturation in bottle before it was released for sale. This ale is very dry and acidic. The 1000 kg of hand-pressed cranberries, have a distinct feel.

Foam Over

Appearance:

I could barely get the cap off before this beer came gushing out the top.  The foam was pretty fierce almost pushing the cap off.  After it calmed down, it poured a cloudy amber red brown with light tan head with slight red tones to it.  I would assume the red is probably the Tyttebaers (mountain cranberries) in the beer.  The head dissipates a few minutes after the pour, but a couple swirls around the glass will instantly build up a significant head.

Aroma:

There is no doubt there is wild yeast in this beer, it has the super funky barnyard lambic aroma. It’s also a little bit fruity with some citrus under tones. Personally, I loved the acidic funky aroma of this beer.

Tyttebaer aftermath

Taste:

Highly carbonated, good bit of sour, make this one not for the faint of heart.  Surprisingly, the cranberry actually comes through the sour funk in this beer.  Beer finishes very dry as you would expect with a wild yeast beer.  The sour in this beer really hits the tip and sides of your tongue.  Slowly, as you drink this bottle, the sour starts to build up on your teeth giving you that second round of sourness as you lick the front of your teeth.  In my book that is a good sign of a sour beer.

Glassware: Tulip

Calories:Very dry 8% abv, so not a lot of residual sugar left in the beer, would estimate 220-240 calories per 12/oz (Calorie Chart)
Overall Impression:

Aside from losing a bunch up from the carbonation, the beer has a great aroma and good sour.  A delicious beer.  About 6-7 on a 10 point scale.  Would be interesting to see how this beer ages over time.  A great Mikkeller and Nøgne-Ø Beer.

Nøgne-Ø Mikkeller Tyttebaer is a post from: Simply Beer

Appearance:

Deep dark brown color with a fairly dense thin amber head.   While a thin head, it had some good staying power.  Tons of carbonation, it was creeping out of the bottle after opening.  There was also lots of sediment; it was literally bouncing around the inside of the glass as the carbonation bubbles kept most of the sediment suspended.

Aroma:

Strong medicinal, herbal, spicy, alcohol aroma which was surrounded oak.  There underlying notes of dark fruit, raisins and figs.  It is a fairly unique aroma as a whole, but not far off from other strong Belgian Dark ales.

Taste:

Wooh! Intense beer!  There is a strong sourness associated with this beer.  For me this is reminiscent of a very young unblended Flanders Red ale.  Malty back bone with lots of fruit on top, cherries and a bit of sour apple.  The oak in this beer is very mutted.

Overall Impression:

Was not expecting this beer to be a sour beer, but it really did have the characteristics of a Flanders red.  I like sour beers, so I enjoyed this beer.  The  9% abv is completely hidden by the sour and fruit.  But you do get a bit of warmth in your face after a glass of this.

Glassware: Goblet or Tulip

Calories: 9%abv, would estimate 275-300 calories (Calorie Chart)

Simply Beer Rating: 83

Have you had this beer, were you surprised by it too?

Beer Review: Eerwaarde Pater is a post from: Simply Beer

With me on this podcast was Mark Jackson and Corey Greenberg.  The only prerequisite I have for the Beer Brawl™ is a love of beer.  You don’t need to know anything about the beers we are drinking only a willingness to try them and voice an opinion.

As usual we have a podcast of The Beer Brawl™ ready for download:

Listen to the Podcast

or download from iTunes

On Tap:

• Dogfish Head Festina Pêche
• Lindemans Pêche Lambic
• Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus
• Duchesse de Bourgogne
• Zoetzuur Flemish Red
• Rodenbach Grand Cru

Honestly, I  was a bit nervous about doing this beer brawl.  There is such a negative feeling about sour beers and Corey and Mark had never had them.  At least Corey and Mark are up to trying new stuff, even if it is forced by the recording.  Our mantra is a willing to try new beer and voice an opinion and that is exactly what they did.

First up for the night was a Berliner Wiessbier from Dogfish Head named Festina Pêche.  Without a lot of experience with this beer we were all very pleased with the refreashing dry tartness of the beer.   Another good beer from the folks at Dogfish Head Brewery and a great way to start this adventure into sour beer.

Next was the Lindemans Pêche Lambic, which in m opinion was more of a schnapps then a Lambic.  It was intensely sweet with a bit of sour underneath the sweetness.  While a very common beer, in our opinion not a very good example of a Lambic beer.

Taking yet another 360 degree turn, we moved on to the Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus.  This Raspberry Lambic was about as tart and puckering as you get with this style of beer. If you’re able to make it past the tartness, there were some wonderful raspberry and mint flavors in this beer.  While I enjoyed it; my counterparts had some different reactions!

The Duchesse de Bourgogne was next and our first step into the Flanders Reds for this podcast.  Both Mark and Corey, I think, were expecting something like the Cantillon, but were greeted with a very well balanced and mildly sour beer. We all did enjoy this beer, a great example of an entry level Flanders Red.

In our style of flip-flopping with this podcast, the Zoetzuur let us all down.  While it seemed to have an OK aroma, the taste had a flavor that was off putting.  None of us really liked this beer, but it was still better then the Lambics we’d had.

However, we did conclude the night on a great beer, the Rodenbach Grand Cru.  This was a very sour beer, but expertly balanced to round out the sour with some earthy and fruit flavors. All of us really enjoyed this beer.

Please Download the podcast and listen to all the details about these Sour Beers stacked up against each other. But if you don’t have time to listen, here are how we rated them:

Next week will be Pumpkin beer! I’m working on future Beer Brawls™, we have Belgian Quads, Trappist Ales, and American vs German Oktoberfest Beer Brawls™ coming up. We’d love to hear your suggestions!

Beer Brawl™ 24 – Sour Beer is a post from: Simply Beer