Flower Power
Epic Brewing Company

6 oz draft pour at Lures Bar & Grille. Too much hibiscus (floral character), not enough passionfruit flavor. I wouldn't have guessed this had passionfruit in it, which is a shame because passionfruit is one of my favorite sour beer additions and has a very distinct flavor, which this beer was lacking. Not terrible, but definitely a disappointment.

 

25oz bottle purchased for $5.99

No bottling or batch info as is typical for Epic

Pours a deeper and redder peach color (apologies, I'm colorblind AF) with a one finger bright white loose head that settles into a fine ring, and leaves some loose lace

Oak barrel and tart aroma, slightly more fruity and soft as it warms up

Woody, barrel, soft sourness and passion fruit. Hibiscus slightly on the tail end, slight sour candy sweetness

Light, effervescent, puckering and a tinge dry

Overall a good tart sour that is quite enjoyable and sessionable.

not sure how i feel about this new branding, these cans dont look classic anymore, but its been cool to get into some new flavors from the finally. this one is cool, hibiscus and passion fruit in a blend of oak aged sour and belgian blonde, clever. its neat to have the oak and the acid but not too much of either, i think the blend is right on, and there is some tartness inherent in the passion fruit that pulls it even more sour, but it hits different layers of pucker and its a long flavor experience even though the beer is on the dry side, slightly cloudy pinkish brassy brew without a lot of head in the glass, some color but it doesnt look all that bright or anything. the aroma is floral hibiscus, white wine, lemony tang, and some generic tropical fruit, just a little richer malt to the mix, some crackery pils type too, and very little belgian yeast, but there is a light ester here, pear maybe to it. the flavor is similar, the hibiscus and the passion fruit both hit late, so the first part of this is the base beers, i get some light citrus, the oak, and the twang, later the springy tea-like hibiscus and the sweet and tart passion fruit, a hint of mango and sweet orange here too. a little sharp to finish but the grain body and the oak soften it enough to make it drinkable beyond one can, and the carbonation is better than it looks. not as expertly refined as the best epic beers, but a cool recipe and i like it being blended, thats fun and adds some depth. nice for summer, and i appreciate it not being too acidic overall.

At least, the stark white foamy head isn't ridiculous. It's there, but it recedes quickly, evenly and without any glass lacing. The body beneath is a richly bright orange-amber that's opaque. As the head in a clear glass Imperial pint mug disappears, a mild sour fruitiness appears for the nose. All this came from a single pint can being emptied into the vessel. The taste of the passion fruit and hibiscus is delicate, so thankfully, the wood aging doesn't overwhelm their contributions. This drinks subtley at every taste level. The individual fruit inclusions are mild. The wood aging is mild. The 6.5 percent ABV is even less than mild. In short, this is nicely refreshing, as opposed to knock your socks off exciting. The wood aging adds just a little body and taste depth, while still allowing the fruits to have their say in the taste. It's s only mildly sour, so it may make a nice starting point for those beginning to appreciating the style. This will fall a little short for those that have already done so.

Hazy orange with a white, level foam head, looking like a solid Midwest IPA if I didn't know better.

Quite sour, taste is passion fruit candy with a balancing lemon rind bitterness where the acidity is feebly mitigated by a light froth.