SLOambic 2015 (Marionberries And Boysenberries)
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.

 

 

375ml C&C bottle. batch 2. bottled 10/9/2015.

poured into HF wine stem.

Appearance: deep purple body. Almost two fingers of bone white head. Head drops down to no head eventually.

Smell: nice mild yet very jammy "dark" berry medley. Hint of oak and earthy basement must. Almost getting a "berry wine" aroma.

Taste: moderate sourness; 6 out of 10. Lots of jammy "dark" berry medley. There is soo much fruit character in this beer. Light dry oak barrel is present as well. Light musty funk. You get a tannic presence as well that almost gives you a mild taste of white wine even though Chardonnay barrels were not used to age this beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied beer. Low carbonation. Dry finish. Jammy, bright, clean, crisp, snappy.

Overall: This beer has many similar qualities to New Glarus R&D Very Sour Blackberry when that beer was still in its younger state of being. This is seriously fantastic and it is really hard to find any flaws in this fruited wild ale.

Absolute home run of a beer, which manages to blend all the best parts of Firestone Walker/Barrelworks's repetoire - deft use of oak and tremendously nuanced and balanced sour+funk profile - with a veritable assload of blackberry (or, more precisely in the case of the 2015 batch, boysenberries and marionberries). This is what you want in a fruited sour - delightfully juicy fruit character alongside characterful oak, tartness, and funk. These guys manage to pull such interesting notes from their barrels, an almost savory character, herbal, like sage perhaps, as well as dry oak and a unique musty character, which isn't so much damp basement (a la 3 Fonteinen or Cantillon) as something I can't even really name, except to say simply that it's incredibly pleasant. The Barrelworks guys have managed to import all of the precision of the mother brewery, while applying it in a whole new realm, creating beers as unique as they are delicious. From Agrestic to Sour Opal to Bretta Weisse, these are just tremendously lovely and thoughtful beers that I'd drink every day and Sunday. Cheers, cheers, three cheers indeed.

(Edit: sweet Jesus, have had the immense good fortune to have this again. This isn't just exemplary, this is mind-blowing. The most recent tasting was from the keg, and you could've mistaken it for delightful blackberry pie, dustings of spice and vanillin oak, and perfectly assimilated vein of funk. I mean, truly, truly world class stuff here.)

 

 

Fantastic! Creamy head with decent retention. Deep dark cherry color. Wonderfully full tart berry fruit scents. Robust deep rich and tart berry flavors. Minimal sweetness and a very nice mild tartness. Dry and nicely vinous. Gentle but still bright carbonation; French champagne like. Marvelous well crafted fruit lambic.