The Vine
Cascade Brewing / Raccoon Lodge & Brewpub

750 ml corked & caged bottle, at Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger, Norway. Golden colour, white head. Aroma of white wine, oak, brettanomyces and white wine vinegar. Sour flavour, with the same elements as the aroma. Very good beer.

 

Pours a rich golden orange with an instantly vanishing head. Wine-like grape with faint citrus tail on the nose. Taste is tart citrus and white grape. Paired wonderfully with my steak. Very nice.

 

2012 vintage. Good pop despite the age. Pours a golden yellow, mild visible carbonation, no head formation. Nose is grape lees and must; light oak, light cardboard. Taste is slight apricot, white white, mildly sweet. A fair amount of musty and wet paper notes, but this is a product of the age of the beer, so hard to knock it as a result. Decent amount of spice notes as well; alcohol not pronounced, but some slight warming. Little to no carb, moderately thick mouthfeel. Would love to get a fresh vintage, but this held up surprising well over the years.

 

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

Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour, with a thin white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only some sparse lacing.

Aroma: Tart, oak, funk, vinous, white wine, grape, grape skin, with light citrusy lemon and mixed berry notes.

Taste: Sour, tart, vinous, white wine, lightly sweet, grape skin, oak, wood, lemon.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

Overall: Complex and balanced with good sweet and sour notes and strong vinous and oak presence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013 bottle at the brewery.

750 mL corked and caged bottle received in a trade a few years ago - thanks, Farees! This is the '2012 Project' (8.85%), served slightly chilled. Reviewed from notes.

I was worried that this one might gush once the cork was popped, but it barely reacted at all. It has a hazy golden-orange colour, producing half a finger of loose, foamy white head that quickly degrades to a narrow collar of froth. The surface is otherwise bare, with little in the way of lace; looks a bit dull - maybe cellaring this was a mistake. The aroma is considerably more interesting, with leather (Brett) being the most noticeable presence; this is followed by oak tannin, grape must and a slight hint of vanilla. Not excessively complex, but it does have a pleasant funkiness to it.

Tart and funky, but with a reasonable amount of balance maintained between its disparate parts; leather and barnyard funk are noticeable right off the bat, as are notes of oak and white wine. Minor suggestions of underripe (tart) peach, lemon, acetic acidity and green apples, as well as a grainy, wheaty malt backbone. Funky, tart aftertaste with hints of sweet grape juice and mint persisting into the aftertaste. Medium-full in body, with moderate carbonation levels that impart a relatively prickly bite to its texture. A pleasure to sip, though it's of limited drinkability - and I suspect that the 8.85% is no longer an accurate measurement, based purely upon its inebriating effects.

Final Grade: 4.12, an A-. Cascade's the Vine is one hell of a durable sour: it's in shockingly good shape for something that is at least 6 or 7 years old, though I suspect it would've been better still had I not sat on it for so long. Oh well... you live, you learn, and I still thoroughly enjoyed my bottle anyhow - particularly because I haven't had the opportunity to try very many Brett beers over the last couple of years. Well worth a look if you can find it.

 

Thanks to eyebereej for sending this one! Reviewed from (very) long-standing notes. Marked as "2011 Project", enjoyed on 8/31/17. Poured from the 750mL bottle into an El Catador teku glass.

A: Mildly hazy light gold, until the last 1/8 bottle – then some yeast haze shows up. A few bubbles rise to the surface, but no real head to speak of, despite fairly active visible carbonation.

S: Lactic sourness and some barrel tannins mix with lemony citric acid, some white vinous character, and a touch of funk – musty basement and cheese.

T: A mix of lactic and mild acetic tartness. Sour grapes as well, with some definite grape skin/grape must tannins. Some oaky tannins add a bit of vanilla. Some apricot/stone fruit presence and some lemony citric acid on the tongue as well. Biscuit malty sweet, but this stays fairly mild. Some more lactic sour and dry tannins in the hang.

M: Average to just on the light side of body. Carbonation sensation on the low side, and alcohol presence seems about average - noticeable but not particularly warming.

O: Not a bad beer, and perhaps the time in the bottle has allowed some of the “standard” Cascade "lactic bomb" aspect to mellow somewhat. But the grapey vinous/grape must being added to the sour profile just isn’t a personal favorite to say the least. Nothing that I’d seek out again for sure. Scores given are an attempt to score to style, rather than pure personal preference; I'd estimate personal scores to be below 3.75/5.

2015 Project.

Pours a slightly hazy golden straw yellow. Small clear bubbles rise to the top, but it’s had some time to breathe on ice so the head and lace are essentially nonexistent.

The nose is consumed by musty white wine and Pinot grapes (or in this case, Gewürztraminer).. predominantly sweet, with just enough funk and oak on the back end to create a really nice profile.

Tart white grapes transform into an earthy, oak-forward sour with a sour wheat backbone. Great balance, and a low acidity leaves just enough warmth going down.

Soft, low carb contrast a sharp sourness right away. A dry mouthfeel from the tannins puts a bow on this nicely. Warm, puckering finish.