Apricot Ale
Cascade Brewing / Raccoon Lodge & Brewpub

Pours a cloudy honey gold with a finger of head that dissipates to a thin ring with a little lacing. Aroma of apricot and tart apricot. Taste follows nose. Wonderful.

Rated in 2016 and gave it an overall of 3.58.

Thought I'd give it another go. 2009 bottling.

Uncorked bottle and lost half of contents to it be a gusher. Ugh.

Cloudy pale rose color. Medium nose. Fruity Flanders red style. Taste was A LOT more balanced. Nice stone fruit presence. Thirst quenching, Drinkable and much more palatable.

Okay, came back to bump up my score. It's growing on me...

13 oz snifter draft pour at Lures Bar & Grille. Pours a hazy creamy yellow with an off-white head. Aroma and flavor feature sour apricots, oak, tannins, leather funk, clean malt, and tons of acidity. VERY sour. Mouthfeel is prickly and astringent. Overall it's tasty but a bit unbalanced.

 

 

375ml (corked and caged) bottled 2017. Opened 6-20-20.
Small pop and hiss upon opening.
Small white head that disappears quickly. No lacing.
Bright, golden apricot flesh color and fully opaque.
Vinous aroma, oak barrel, and muted apricot fruit initially.
Bracing acid, tart and bright fruit and just a hint of powdery funk. The apricot becomes more pronounced as the beer warms. Overall the warmer it gets the less sharp and more flavorful/enjoyable it gets.
Medium body, low plus carbonation. Lengthy, high acid finish.
Very Good.

 

Cascade is one of the few U.S. sour brewers that I regularly enjoy. I have no idea why. 750ML C&C bottle/2015 project split with my wife.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention I picked up this bottle at HyVee for $5 on clearance. Because why not? The pour is unalloyed gold with plenty of life with a nose of what? Tart apricots. That’s just a guess.

Apricot Ale is a sharp, simple beast. Nitric acid puckers the palate & the barrels team up to cause arid mouth syndrome. Apricot is subtle but runs throughout. Light & airy. This glass is going to do me just fine, but it’s the rare sour I can consume more than one of.

Not Cascade’s best work, but perhaps the apricot is just not enough to stand up to the microbes. Still a good solid brew.

500 ML bottle
Served in a sour glass
2017

This beer pours a hazy yellow color. It is topped with a fleeting tan head that leaves no lacing.

The smell is pretty damn amazing. I get funk, dank basement, and an acidic Flanders ale smell. There is tart apricot. This is what I want sours to smell like.

Tart and acidic. The apricot helps cut the acidity but only so much. It has that wonderful dank basement and funk flavor. The sourness is puckering, and I love it.

Light bodied with a dry mouthfeel

I picked this up at a local store off the 1/2 off shelf. I am pissed that I didn't buy them all. I hope someone doesn't beat me to it. Great stuff!

A 750ml corked and caged bottle, 2015 project. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.

Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that had decent retention while leaving lots of nice lacing.

Aroma: Tart, apricot, oak, hay, lime zest, light funk.

Taste: Sour, very sour, tart, apricot, hay, dust, wood, oak, lemon zest.

Mouthfeel: Moderately sharp, medium bodied, with moderate carbonation.

Overall: The flavours were enjoyable, but it was just too sour, and coupled with the acidity, it was just a bit too much for any easy drinking but good for sipping.

 

 

 

 

This is one I prob should have had fresh, but alas it became a cellar beer. 2008 vintage, so hopefully it held up.

Pours with no carbonation and no head, the cork looked dried out so prob lost it's carb over time, very clear iced-tea orange-brown copper color with tiny floaties

Nose is quite nice, not much for fruit but plenty of sour funk, big bacteria souring and acidity, acetic and lactic acids, little barnyard funk, getting a touch vinegary, with some buttery oak still there, and a bit of candied stone fruit in the background, some malty aromas as well

Taste brings more of the malt and sourness, a bit of a sweet candy malt and caramelized sugars, with some candied apricot, not a ton, a bit of alcohol but not much, souring bacteria again with mild acetic acid, maybe lactic but hard to tell, light barnyard funk, a little malt vinegar, into some buttery oak as well, mild tart flemmy finish, lingering sourness, malt and candied fruit

Mouth is med bod, a little fuller touch syrupy, med acidity and funk, low to almost no carb, light alcohol warmth

Overall not bad, definitely an enjoyable sour, but apricot is mostly gone as expected. If I'm ever out there again I'll def have to try this fresh, provided there aren't 20 other beers I need to try like last time I went.

2015 bottle.

A - Pours clear orange to the dregs, a pretty sight, with a moderate white head, some thin lacing.

S - Acidity with punchy apricot lushness, a hint of funk.

T - Bright sourness, a mild fruit hit, a subtle minerality, and just a hint of sweet apricot that lingers in the close.

M - Mild carbonation and prickly acidity, closing with a slick long tail.

O - A superb sour, delivering a solid bright core, and lush fruit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12/14/18...cloudy, golden copper, fast fizzy white foam w/ sediment floating. Fruity apricot white wine nose. Super puckering sour, heavy fruit. Like biting into a lemon. Slightly oaked.

 

 

Pours a very cloudy golden yellow color with a thin foamy head. Head retention is minimal. Lacing is good. Very sour and tart apricot aroma. Really mouth puckering tart apricot sourness. Light bodied with moderate carbonation. Good beer but a little too much on the sour side for me.

 

A - Pours dim orange with a billowing white head. Gave it a swirl and saw a considerable amount of ropy yeast tendrils. A tiny amount of head sticks around indefinitely, which is a pleasant surprise for an aggressively sour beer.

S - Strong balsamic vinegar notes - tart cherry, lemon curd, stinging acetic.

T - Lactic-forward, sides-of-the-tongue sour bomb. Instantly hits with this massive flavor of fresh lemon, like biting off and chewing a lemon slice, pulp and all. In an instant, you get a natural fruit sweetness mixed with puckering lactic acidity, a great sweet-and-sour pairing. There are also hints of apricot and dark breads, like jam on toast, but you really have to search for it using what's left of your taste buds after that initial acid burn. Doesn't linger long, but what aftertaste there is would best be described as a very light fruit syrup.

M - Full-bodied for the style as per Cascade's all-lacto souring regimen. Lightly coats the mouth with a syrupy texture as it finishes.

O - A bold sour, though it really only hits a single note. I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of apricot flavor, as well. Still, there's a lot this beer gets right, and I'm certainly glad I tried it. Paired perfectly with some funky blue cheese after dinner.

L -- Pours a moderately hazy pale orange body with barely any head to speak of, even when poured with significant aeration. Some spotty lacing
S -- Apricot, peach, bretty funk, lacto tartness, wildflower honey, vanilla, fresh cut oak, lime sherbert. Nice and bright
T -- Tons of lacto sourness: lemon, white vinegar, tart apple, quince, cranberry. Getting a little apricot and white oak, but it's pretty masked by the aggressive sourness
F -- Light mouthfeel, medium+ carb. Pretty easy drinking, although the sourness gets a little grating after a while
O -- A nice, classic American wild ale that is definitely quite well made given the degree of distribution. Like with most American sour brewers, though, the tartness is pretty heavy handed and pushes the beer somewhat out of balance

77/100

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Hazy yellow color with a small white head that dissipated quickly.

Smell: Tart apricots and mild grassy notes. The apricots feature nicely.

Taste: Tart apricots, mild hay notes, and some tannic oak notes. The finish is fairly dry.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied with a modest level of carbonation.

Overall: A tasty Cascade offering.