Sour Wench Aged in White Wine Barrels
Ballast Point Brewing Company

Deep, mahogany color. Medium-sized, quickly dissolving head. Berries, grape must and wood in a slightly funky aroma. Moderately sour taste with notes of berries and oak

 

 

 

-White wine barrel aged with blackberries in Chardonnay & Sauvignor Barrels.

A: Dirty reddish brown pour with a thin film is creamy atop with some pinkish hues. Soft carbonation around the vessel edges.

S: Sour wine mash, cherries, with some dry apple skins. Dried blackberries, with a soft sourness along with some semi-dried lemon.

T: Flavor of sour white wine, apple mash, tart lemon with a even smooth sourness of pineapple, pear and oaky wood. Blackberry tartness, lemon, and vanilla caramel sweetness to balance.

M: Tart acidic mouthful, milky feel, smooth, with a warm mouth coating of sour apple alcohol. Some slickness.

O: Overall a very smooth and flavorful sourness with a wide range of supporting flavors. Very good drinkability per style, well balanced, with some vanilla-caramel sweetness to balance a chardonnay oaky sourness.

 

 

Ballast Point Brewing Co. "White Wine Barrel Aged Sour Wench"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle, coded "BASW#7WW07:49 PKG 23AUG18"
$4.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Well this sounds interesting. I remember the Sour Wench didn't blow me away in its original form but maybe this will do the trick. It's poured a hazy reddish brown body beneath a short head of slightly pinkish tan foam. It's not that big of a head, and I don't expect it to stick around, but that's common with sour beers. It certainly smells like a wine barrel. I love that! It's oaky, vinous, and a touch caramelish. It reminds me of an oud bruin. The head has gone now, and it didn't leave any lacing behind. At least it still has a bit of a collar to it. On to the flavor... well, I'm impressed. It's tart but not puckeringly so, and the blackberries come through nicely. There's not as much oak as I'd have thought given the aroma, but there's enough, and it's balanced. Any more might have interfered with the fruit. I am pleasantly surprised. I get tart and then fruit, the brown sugar/caramelish malt, and then oak in the finish. It's nice. In the mouth it's light-medium in body, and gently effervescent and crisp with a little bite from the acidity. Very nicely done, and well worth seeking out for fans of oaked sour beers.
Review# 6,482