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Spencer
The Ale Apothecary
- From:
- The Ale Apothecary
- Oregon, United States
- Style:
- Wild Ale
- ABV:
- 10.7%
- Score:
- 95
- Avg:
- 4.4 | pDev: 5.91%
- Reviews:
- 5
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- May 22, 2018
- Added:
- Jul 02, 2013
- Wants:
- 70
- Gots:
- 9
SPENCER (The Dispenser of Provisions) is our annual fruit beer. In the early fall, we harvest wild blackcurrant fruit and add it to a batch of year-old SAHALIE. The sugars in the fruit produce another fermentation and the blackcurrant tannins create additional structure over the 8-month aging period. Prior to bottling, the beer is dry-hopped for a month in oak barrels. With close to 2 years in oak, Spencer has a much more developed Brettanomyces character than our other beers. Because of the extremely limited quantity of wild blackcurrant available, we produce only one oak barrel of Spencer every year.
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Ratings by WillSherwood:
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by Zythophile from Washington
4.62/5 rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
4.62/5 rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Bottle Date: 2/25/16
Palate Contaminants: other beer
The color is fairly unique. I don't see much that I'd call a dark orange. Moderate opaqueness.
The smell is that of a floral sour with some blackberry honey. I was surprised at the amount of Brettanomyces, but I gather that it's intentional. Heavy corn candy, but without the corn, if that makes sense. The sour element shades toward lactic, too. Very interesting.
The canvas is apple cider, maybe mixed with a little pear cider. Then, from one angle, it's a mixed berry cheesecake. From another angle, it's jam and butter on soft toast. I mean, it's a sour beer, but it's not really sour. There's so much fruit-derived sugar. It's not as candy-ish as HF's Clover, but it's as complex. Rich, too. There's some serious nectar-of-the-gods stuff going on. Instead of blackberry honey, the taste is currant honey, if you can imagine.
For a niner, the alcohol is very well hidden. Carbonation is somewhat coarse, but not prickly. The aftertaste is about as delicious as any aftertaste.
Dec 03, 2017Palate Contaminants: other beer
The color is fairly unique. I don't see much that I'd call a dark orange. Moderate opaqueness.
The smell is that of a floral sour with some blackberry honey. I was surprised at the amount of Brettanomyces, but I gather that it's intentional. Heavy corn candy, but without the corn, if that makes sense. The sour element shades toward lactic, too. Very interesting.
The canvas is apple cider, maybe mixed with a little pear cider. Then, from one angle, it's a mixed berry cheesecake. From another angle, it's jam and butter on soft toast. I mean, it's a sour beer, but it's not really sour. There's so much fruit-derived sugar. It's not as candy-ish as HF's Clover, but it's as complex. Rich, too. There's some serious nectar-of-the-gods stuff going on. Instead of blackberry honey, the taste is currant honey, if you can imagine.
For a niner, the alcohol is very well hidden. Carbonation is somewhat coarse, but not prickly. The aftertaste is about as delicious as any aftertaste.
Reviewed by SaltySizzle from California
4.74/5 rDev +7.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.74/5 rDev +7.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
5-1-2014 handwritten marked bottle with the man, Paul himself. One of the best beers I've had this year. Fruit finishes very well on the palette, and not a sour bomb. Overly balanced with incredible mouthfeel. Apoth is still seriously underrated, IMO. Glad I got to try this at the Brothers Provisions event in SD! Hope it's an annual thing.
Jun 08, 2015
Spencer from The Ale Apothecary
Beer rating:
95 out of
100 with
39 ratings
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