Chêne Des Fous
Cascade Brewing / Raccoon Lodge & Brewpub

Copenhagen 26/6 2020. 50 cl corked bottle from Best of Beers webshop. White and gray, sober label telling me this is the 2018 batch and part of the Northwest Sour Series.

Pours murky orange with a small, bubbly white head. Settles as thin layer of foam just covering the surface of the beer. Substantial lacing.

Aroma is intense with a strong tart, sour, vinegary odor with a fairly strong, underlying sweetness. Modest funky notes. Green apples, perfume, floral. Citrus vinegar. Fermented cider.

Light carbonation. Thin, oily, lightly tingling texture.

Flavor is intense with a medium strong sweetness followed by a strong sourness. Aftertaste is sour and austere. Finish is dry.

Sour but not without a sweet streak making it bearable. Fine cup of strong vinegar. Indeed a crazy oak.

375 ml corked & caged bottle, vintage 2018, at Cardinal, Stavanger. ABV is 8.4%. Hazy orange colour, small white head. Complex aroma of brettanomyces, oak, lactic acid, sumac berries and apricots, spicy hints. Very sour flavour, with the same elements as the aroma.

another super unique cascade beer, this time a collaboration with burial, a couple of legends together for this! its a blended wild strong ale, aged long in oak barrels, with sumac, apricots, and toasted oak chains, pretty unique mix of ingredients and processes here in a very sour, very complex beer that i was lucky enough to catch on tap. rusty light orange colored, clearish for what it is, short white head but pretty active in terms of feel. i think the sumac and apricot are amazing together, tart and herbal, a berry note and slightly medicinal from the sumac in aroma and flavor, sweet and enriching from the apricot, identifiable and real to me, neat back and forth between the two, but both are fully subservient to all the wood and the acid, both of which are super intense in here. the sourness is way ahead of the funk, and even though it smells kind of bretty and weird and wild, the flavor is all bacterial pucker, really sharp, cuts this off a little short i think, kind of what cascade is known for, but its a bit much i think in proportion here, this could be so much more delicate and interesting with this scaled back. the wood is cool, its winey and french and old on the barrel side, newer, warming, vanilla forward, and sort of dried tasting from the chains, neat way to get multiple wood profiles at play, vinous overall, lightly tannic and bright too, very herbal later on, just a bit of sweetness from the apricots softening the back end. lots of nuance here, sauternes, pears, black peppercorns, nutty malt, an almost belgian ester, white grape, orange marmalade, wet soil, and surprisingly spirited carbonation swirling all the elements around. very mature and well aged, unique to say the least, and that i can appreciate so much of the sumac contribution is way cool, exactly what i wanted from this. a little too sour to be drinkable, but the alcohol is real well hidden. impressive offering, very evolved, nothing quite like this out there...

 

Purchased as a single bottle from The Blue Door for $20. Poured into a Burgundy wine glass.

L - Hazy rust, with a minimal pale khaki head. Lacing is excellent.
S - Tart on the nose. White grape, oak, ivy. Earthy and woodsy. Some floral, grassy notes here and there.
T - Starts off with a strong oak-sumac. Becomes a funky, open-airy earth. Towards the end, a zesty citron note envelops a nice apricot flavor, and leaves on a strong oak finish. Mostly on the sweeter side. The ABV is absent until the end of the glass!
F - Medium-full in body, with plenty of carbonation. Easy-to-sip, and filling.
O - Reminds me of the woods right after it rains in the springtime. Because of this, I decided to drink the rest of the bottle in the woods. I greatly enjoyed the experience this brew gave me. Flavorful, complex, and the perfect springtime ale. Highly recommend!

On-draught @ Cascade Portland:

Low B / GOOD

Poured from a bottle () into a Belgian glass

L: pours a totally clear darker orange, maybe some brown in there, with a slight white head. Nice moderate visible carbonation feeding the foam, bit of lacing with each sip

S: great rustic and earthy funk, tart with some stone fruit sweetness lurking. Lots of oak, lemon zest, grassy, floral, apricot in the background. There’s this note I’ve encountered before but haven’t come up with a good term for, need to work on my vocabulary. Great depth overall, with a build in that cheese funk as it’s warmed

T: really good flavor, follows the nose well with the oaky/earthy character a bit more restrained on the swallow. Get that oak up front with the lemon zest cutting through, a bit of apricot toward the middle (reminds me of the dried Turkish apricots in my dinner last night). Medium/long finish, presents a bit more funk, some nice pepper spice as well

F: medium body, medium+ carbonation, moderate well-balanced acidity, moderately drying

O: a solid sour from a group that does them very well. A bit more of the apricot my main knock, but overall quite good with balanced acidity

L: Generic golden blonde ale.
S: Strong barrel flavor with a hint of apricot.
T: The big brother of flamblanc. More rough and sharp with the same smooth finish. Strong triple ale with a kick of oak into the simple fruity apricot finish.
F: Strong apricot beer with a kick of oak.
O: Decent simple peach beer with a kick.

 

021620

 

Rather cloudy orange body topped with a thin, wispy yet lasting head. Very pleasing sour smell; some yellow pitted fruit notes; peach and nectarine; musty. An interesting taste composite of cherry sourness; oak woodiness; lemony. Medium body; coarse and bubbly; tart and acidic; some dryness yet has a citrus juiciness.

I wonder what a triple wild ale is really supposed to be. This beer is labeled as such and isn't bad for a sour beer. The oak aging adds a subtle dimension to things. I don't believe I would rush out for an other one (there are plenty of better sours out there), but this one is worth trying if you're a sour beer fan. Also, the beer has an ABV listing of 9.7% ABV while the bottle label has it at 8.4%, and, of course, the brewery's web site has no information about the beer's alcohol content.

 

 

A great mixed fermentation effort, on tap at Cascade Barrel House. Lots of wood and sour. Cognac barrel makes it a sipper to be savoured. Nice colour in body.