Kagua Sour
Cascade Brewing / Raccoon Lodge & Brewpub

 

a collaboration with far yeast from japan, a really unique darker sour ale, and a beer i was over the moon to score on tap! an incredibly unique offering, i would have hated to have missed this! sansho pepper and yuzu peel in a blend of red ales in red wine barrels, its mighty dynamic. past crimson to almost brownish maroon in color with a short but lasting khaki head from the tap, airy and wispy. the aroma on this is sour cherries, red wine tannins and dried berries, a distinctive sweet blueberry note, and an almost medicinal herbal character along with a ton of oak and quite a lot of acid, definitely a cascade sour here! i get strong blueberry in the taste too, especially right on the swallow at the apex of the acidity, some lemon notes enhancing that element, really curious since there are no blueberries in here that i know of, but the taste is undeniable. i get a lot of cool malt from the base beers, perfect with all the red wine character, the yuzu pops at different points as well, a cool nuance but enough of it to make its presence known. usually sour reds have the flanders vinegar thing going on, and this one really doesnt, despite the sourness and woody maturity, its a different profile, cleaner, but with some funk too, makes this really unique in the style. i cant say i am overly familiar with sansho as an ingredient, and its contribution might be a little lost on me here, but i am certainly tasting some flavors and flavor combinations that are new to me in beer, so that is likely part of it. soft carbonation, enough body set against the sourness for this to not be too sharp or thinning in feel, and very complex overall, more and more so as it warms. really great stuff here, has me interested in far yeast too. radically unique and delicious!