La Tormenta
Breakside Brewery - NE Dekum

 

 

 

Opened with a big pffft. Pours a hazy, yet vibrant, golden color with three fingers of airy, bright white sea foam head.

Interesting aroma of melon, a little pineapple and some slight sour beneath.

Much more sour tasting, pretty intensely so -- lemony, musty, mouth-puckering. There's a flash of juicy sweetness (tangerine, white grape) and then an abruptly very dry finish. A ghost of "lager"-like beer (crackery malt, Noble hops) shows sometimes as an aftertaste. A little sourness lingers, too, but overall this thing is very dry. It has a heavy mineral water quality to it, as well.

Medium bodied and very heavily carbonated, like a seltzer water.

This is an okay wild ale. The flavors are solid, but the carbonation and mineral qualities aren't to my taste.

 

 

22oz bottle - not much info about this one on the label - 'dry hopped', 'sour', and 'ale'. Ok, got it.

This beer pours a mostly clear, bright medium golden yellow colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, loosely foamy, and fizzy off-white head, which leaves some sudsy Rand McNally lace around the glass as it quickly bleeds away.

It smells of musty light stone fruit, tart Pez candies, a further underripe citrus rind acerbity, gritty and grainy pale malt, a lesser edgy wheatiness, white wine vinegar, and some understated earthy, leafy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is grainy and crackery pale malt, wet Wheat Thins, some dank yeastiness, a muddled citrus and stone fruit tartness, ethereal dusty/funky notes, and some still very tame leafy and floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite active in its palate-pelting frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and sort of smooth, as that fruity tart/sour character is not particularly invasive. It finishes off-dry, the base malts and complex fruitiness keeping the more edgy essences at bay.

Overall, this is a pleasant enough sour brew, with the dry-hopping adding (or adding to) a robust sour experience. Fairly easy to drink, once acclimated, and something that I could see calming the fears of those imbibers not yet convinced as to the thought process that goes into making this stuff. Like me.

 

 

L: Poured from a bottle to a tulip glass. Had a bright, golden yellow color and a cloudy consistency. There was a massive, foamy / fizzy head that lasted a good amount of time. Below average lacing.

S: A nice aroma of several different kinds of fruit, malt, yeast, and a funky quality.

T: Tasted of a mild bit of malt (not too much), some yeast, a lot of citrus (lemon, in particular), other light fruits (apricot, mango), and a musty / funky quality. A pretty solid flavor for the most part. It's generally vibrant, but not overly original in its content. Still, a sweet likable taste.

F: A highly carbonated beer with a slick, yet lively finish. Light- to medium-bodied.

O: This isn't a perfect beer, but it is definitely an easy to like one. Drinkable.

Beer is listed as retired but I believe it has been brought back. Looks light golden, slight haziness. 1 inch foamy head that is slow to disapate. Smells of citrus, lemon, orange zest. Taste is a blend of hoppy bitterness and refreshing tart. Lots of lemon, orange, and grapefruit. Not as much hop presence as I expected. Not overly carbonated, medium mouthfeel.

Served at the Brewer's Fork in Charlestown, Mass on 1/16/2017, even though this beer has been retired.

The color is dark gold and nearly clear. Small head which reduces to fine rim bubbles. Only a few tiny spots for lace.

Nice crystal malt sweetness with a touch of raw dough smell. There's hop but only as a spice.

Mild lemony sourness to start the taste. This lasts throughout even into the aftertaste. I also get a blackberry sweetness in the middle of the taste. Very low bitterness. Rich body with an above average carbonation. Missing the wheat to make this taste like a shandy.

 

 

 

 

 

I dont know if this is the same La Tormenta that everyone is having, cause mine does not fit the descriptions given. Cannot make out a bottle date. Anyway, pours a slightly opaque yellow orange and bursts with peach, apricot, and lemon lime soda aromas. Lemony lime and subtle peach flavors backed by a faint tartness and a light body with a spritzy feel. Very light, refreshing, and consumable in large quantities. Would not have guessed this is 7.0%. Cheers!

 

 

 

Not retired unless my bottle and the cases i saw are very old. Breakside does approachable sours and this one is no exception. This is fruit forward dark and stone fruits mixed with cranberries and cherries and just enough hops to balance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

22oz Bomber

A — Pours a coppery almost reddish brown hue into the glass, fair clarity, there is a light khaki colored head that forms but fades into a thin layer and leaves behind just oily bits of lacing.

S — Smell is light but fairly interesting, with notes of tart cherries, some raspberry, little bit of oak and raisin, somewhat sour and malt vinegary.

T — Light initially, there are some sour dark fruit notes, sour cherry, plum skin, raisin, little bit of a drying oak component.

M — Light in body, a little bit of a lingering finish as well.

O — Alright overall, not a whole lot of flavors developed just yet, a very approachable sour.

 

 

 

 

Hazy golden orange with fizzy, lumpy white head. Spotty lacing.
Smells of Meyer lemons and dank pine with an herbaceous quality. A tad musty.
Taste is more lemon and floral/herbs with a funk twist. Has a bit of sourdough taste to it.
Body is medium-light with low carbonation and dry finish.

 

My first sour beer, really enjoyed it.

 

 

Picked up a 22 of this because I'm trying to get more into sour beers. It pours a dark straw color with a big white head. The aroma is hop heavy and not to sour. Scents of tropical fruits and citrus are strongest. There is a very mild sour taste to the beer (which I appreciated as a non-sour fan) and was pretty smooth. The sour is balanced by piney, funky, and citrusy hop flavor.