The Beer Formerly Known As (TBFKA) La Tache
The Ale Apothecary

The Beer Formerly Known As (TBFKA) La TacheThe Beer Formerly Known As (TBFKA) La Tache
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From:
The Ale Apothecary
 
Oregon, United States
Style:
Wild Ale
Ranked #149
ABV:
8.5%
Score:
95
Ranked #1,659
Avg:
4.28 | pDev: 7.71%
Reviews:
52
Ratings:
293
Status:
Active
Rated:
Feb 15, 2024
Added:
Jul 30, 2012
Wants:
  128
Gots:
  43
The Beer Formerly Known as LA TACHE is the table sour produced year-round by The Ale Apothecary. (TBFKA) LA TACHE is made of malted barley & wheat and Goschie Farms Cascade Hops. The hops are used only for aroma as the balance of the beer comes from acid produced by our house lactobacillus culture. She spends up to one year in our barrels during a long, relaxed fermentation prior to a month-long dry-hopping (yes, in oak barrels!). Our sensory experience is lemon citrus & fermented orchard fruit nose over earthy undertones. The palate finishes with soft lactic acid balanced by the malt body.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 4.28 by Gkruszewski from New York

Feb 15, 2024
 
Rated: 4.23 by smithj4 from New York

Jan 27, 2024
Photo of Holderness
Reviewed by Holderness from Massachusetts

4.29/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Very nice flagship offering from the Ale Apothecary. Quite sweet and honey-forward, with a good balance of earthy hoppiness and bright lactic acidity

86/100
Nov 07, 2023
 
Rated: 4.41 by RobinLee from Wisconsin

Jan 28, 2023
 
Rated: 4.34 by smi69 from New York

Jan 17, 2022
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Reviewed by EMV from Pennsylvania

4.46/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a corked bomber into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Nearly clear light golden pour. One finger of fizzy white head falls fast... nice ring of lacing. Sediment at the end of the pour.

S: Tart and fruity mixed with oak and wine.

T.F: Sweet/tart... modest acidity. Loads of fruit and oak. Lemon citrus plus white wine, apple cider vinegar, tea, and unripened stone fruit. Somewhat fizzy carbonation plus a bit of funk. Medium to light bodied.

O: An outstanding barrel aged wild ale. Complex and super drinkable. Picks up great stuff from the lacto and barrels. One worth seeking out.
Aug 01, 2021
 
Rated: 4.21 by morrowd3 from Vermont

Jan 29, 2021
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Reviewed by hops_for_thought from New York

4.6/5  rDev +7.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a bottle (19Apr2018) into a Belgian glass

L: pours a totally clear light amber, with a thick large bubble off white head. Lots of visible carbonation, leaves great thick lacing with each sip for a long time post pour

S: immediately hit with some proper cheese funk, great mixed ferm character. Get green apple, lemon, melon, some hay. A bit of that spicy character I’ve found in other Ale Apothecary beers, piney almost peppery. Slight sweetness from the honey, a bit of oak character from those wine barrels as well

T: a very beautiful, funky, slightly tart swallow. Balanced lacto funk opens with the honey more pronounced here than on the nose. Get apple, lemon, some apricot/nectarine. Imagine it’s the wine barrel aging adding some structure and body to this. Medium/long finish, maintains those fruit notes but with an earthier undertone

F: medium body, medium/medium+ body, nicely drying, moderately acidic

O: what do you expect, it’s a fantastic beer from Ale Apothecary. A beautiful mixed fermentation ale, lots of lacto character working so well with the added honey and wine barrel aging
Sep 19, 2020
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

4.19/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Thanks to whoever brought this to the Firestone Walker Pre Party 2017, always happy to try Ale Apothecary stuff when someone else foots the bill (they expensive)!

Pours a honey like color leaning into amber/orange, 1/3" white head. Smells of lemon and cascade hops (grapefruit rind). Bright oak notes.

Citrus notes keep pouring on, they're the bitter ones. Relatively clean, didn't pick up any funk notes, kept a lively lemon, wheatgrass, grapefruit rind, pine kind of vibe throughout. Didn't think the abv on this one would be so high, good kudos when you can't even tell something is this strong, and yet so light bodied. Good sour factor, probably a 6 on the 10 pt scale, acidity is about the same. Plenty crisp and carbonated. Has a more sour like grisette quality to it.

The review summarizes like prolly all my ale apothecary reviews: Its really good beer at about the highest price point in the industry. I look for it at festivals.
Jul 17, 2020
Photo of avalon07
Reviewed by avalon07 from South Carolina

4.25/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
L: Poured from a bottle to a snifter. Had an orange-ish color and an extremely cloudy consistency. There was a half inch of foamy, fairly long-lasting head. Above average lacing.

S: A very nice aroma of citrus fruit, wood, a vinous quality, hops, and a funky quality.

T: Tasted of a bit of hops (a subtle ingredient), some of the typical sour beer funkiness (not too much, though), a bit of the vinous quality (white wine grapes, to be specific), a good amount of citrus fruit (lemon, in particular), an oaky quality, and some yeast as well (a nice backbone). A tart, sour, and lively flavor. A nice balance of funk and fruitiness.

F: A well-carbonated beer with a sharp finish. Medium-bodied.

O: A rock solid, focused sour. Drinkable.
Jul 13, 2020
 
Rated: 4.46 by Chuckdiesel24 from Illinois

Apr 13, 2020
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Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont

4.25/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Bottle dated 3/7/19.
This was poured into a snifter.
The appearance a mellow woody orange color with a finger and a half's worth of white foamy head softly dissolving to leave a small concave lace.
The aroma had a strong sour citrusy tart character with a touch of white wine, small whiff of acidic funk, orange zest, grassiness, small barrel woodiness and a touch of honey sweetness.
The flavor leaned towards the sour side initially but developed more of a nice balance between the sweet, the tart and the sour. Mild funky grassy to honey flow permeates just before an aftertaste of honey coated orange zesty grassy funk occurs.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fairly dry texture making this one more of a sipper. Finishes crisp with plenty of dryness.
Overall, nicely done American wild ale well worthy of coming back to.
Apr 05, 2020
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Reviewed by REVZEB from Illinois

4.29/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Opaque bright orange with a finger of fluffy white foam, some lacing. Dryer general fruit preserves, juicy and tart citrus, white wine, expressive oak, dry hops, grass, must, and orange zest. Taste has more funk, but generally is much the same, hops are surprisingly potent, oak too. The yeast and fruit combine well toward and through the finish in a funky and zesty way that serves to drive the taste. Starts dry and light in the feel before opening up with the oak, hops, and tartness, complex feel. More proof AA doesn't make a bad beer
Mar 29, 2020
 
Rated: 4.59 by Scottsbeer from Florida

Mar 04, 2020
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Reviewed by KrustyLovesYou

4.63/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
Got this because I had to use a gift card at one of those hoity toity places in Oakland. It's not anything I'd buy except that it seemed to be close to the hoppy beers :) It's very sour and makes me salivate profusely; although, maybe I should press the button on my medic-alert bracelet before I salivate to an untimely end! I suggested to my wife that she might want to cook with this one while I'd move on to a Torpedo, but she's not cooking with an $18 beer! My SO went to Culinary Institute of America, so she could validate the very loquacious and cerebral reviews on this one and was very intrigued/ sampled a few times, but I'm on the wrong side of the railroad tracks on this beer; so I'll rate it respectfully, force it down (almost done), and go back to my hoppy beers. I'd once brewed 5 gal of wort with a gal of honey and it got better with age, so maybe this one should sit in the wine cellar for a year brfore use, but it's too late for this one as it's already down the trap both figuratively and now literally =)
Dec 29, 2019
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Reviewed by brother_rebus from Maine

4.11/5  rDev -4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Very lambic like. Muted carbonation but fuller on the thickness than a tyical lowerabv american sour. Honey, oak and wine are all pretty obvious. The malts give a little earth to it too. Tasty beer and would buy again.
Nov 26, 2019
Photo of Sabtos
Reviewed by Sabtos from Ohio

4.19/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Hazy amber-gold with a very tall, persistent lumpy white foam head.

Perfectly tart lemon-lime pairs with some mild straw funk in the fluffy medium body that finishes semi-dry, exhaling wild honey.
Sep 10, 2019
 
Rated: 4.38 by Duncian from Pennsylvania

Aug 15, 2019
 
Rated: 4.3 by Ajlvt from Washington

Aug 09, 2019
 
Rated: 4.34 by Ristaccia from Nebraska

Aug 06, 2019
The Beer Formerly Known As (TBFKA) La Tache from The Ale Apothecary
Beer rating: 95 out of 100 with 293 ratings