Progenitor
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

 

This one pours a very hazy golden yellow color, with a fluffy head, and lots of lacing. 2015 bottle.

Even at five years old, this has a pretty pronounced hop character holding on, with fresh citrus and some spicy grassiness. There's some breadiness, lemon, and oak.

I'm really surprised at how well this one held up. The hop character is still intact, with a bold citrusy character, along with some spicy character. There's some pear, stone fruit, and oak, with white wine and grassiness.

This is light bodied, clean, and very smooth, with a soft and non-threatening acidity.

I haven't had much Crooked Stave lately, and clearly I need to change that. This was excellent.

 

This is my first crooked stave beer and I will definitely seek out more.

Body is a uniformly hazy golden yellow hue and pours with a 2 finger head that lasts and lasts.


Nose is very soft with components of sour lemon, funk, European hops, freshly baked bread.

Flavor is similar. Soft and classy with a good dose of lemon sour, funk, a hint of vinegar, maybe a hint of Belgian candy sugar, bready malt backbone with a euro hop overtone. The finish has a slight bitterness to it after the initial sour wears off.

M- a little fizzy which otherwise detracts from a perfectly smooth bready light to medium weight soft body.

O- "dry hopped golden sour ale" add the word farmhouse in there and you got it. Part sour, part Belgian golden, part Belgian IPA, part saison. This is complex yet so balanced. Great beer overall and I am looking forward to trying more from this brewery.

 

-initial bottle pour is clear and golden, but the final yeast dunk produces a deep yellow-orange cloud. There is a 1/2 cm foam cap that dissipates quickly. The aroma is of hay, light lemon and Brett-like funk. The flavor includes grapefruit and tangerine. The wild yeast character dominates appropriately. This brew lacks the breadth of flavors of othe Crooked Stave offering. Perhaps that is because the Progenitor is the starting base for some other brews.

375ml bottle. Label is marked for bottling date as 'MAY 2015'.
Murky, gold colored (similar to apricot juice) body. Two finger white head quickly retreats to foamy, bubbly cap. Lots of residue left in the bottom of the bottle. Leaves no lacing.
Aroma of sour fruit and rubbery funk.
Taste is sour fruit (grapefruit and pineapple) and horse blanket funk (grassy, woody, and sweaty). Also has a lot of malts.
Mouth feel is medium plus, has a fuller texture. Very good carbonation.
Delicious sour fruity ale that expresses the funk. If hops are present, they are represented by the slight spiciness within. Not complex but well balanced.

A - Hazy orange with a grayish cast, moderate white head, lots of stringy lined lacing.

S - Modeate grape and wood notes, wet limestone, and a bit of grass and blanket.

T - Pungent pear and apple, moderate middle of malt with lemony highlights, a subtly tart finish.

M - Brisk but just a bit sticky in the finish.

O - Delicious and quite satisfying.

FUNKY AND BARNYARDY I was not a fan of this beer. I rate it based on a farmhouse ale in which case i think it was a very good example from the flavors I have come to know from farmhouse ales. I had a 2013 sofie two weeks ago that tasted exactly like this but MUCH stronger and over carbed.

I had a bottle from 2016 february ( 2.5 years old) in a tulip glass.

Appearance - Normal golden color with white head, more carbed than expected but head did not last leaving just a small amount of white while sipping.
Aroma - Smelled sour and herbal, no notes of hops which was disapointing but i had a 2 year old bottle so completely expected. I cant describe the aroma well but it is distinct, my friends said it smelled like citrus cider, i think astringent citrus would be a decent description.
Taste - Like a farmhouse ale, very much like the 6 year old sofie by goose island i had and apex predator by off color. I think the flavors were better balanced though very barnyard it was very drinkable and enjoyable. The taste i say is barnyard i would have previously said maybe a black licorice sort of herbal.
Overall - Good, would not buy again especially for $8. If you love farmhous ales then youll love this if its old.

 

 

 

 

 

Hazy golden color with huge fluffy white head. Aroma has nice rustic notes la fresh herbs, meadow flower, wood, barnyard and unripe orchard fruits. Taste starts tart and follows with mostly the same barnyard flavors, a bit more hay and soft woody bitterness, still quite fruity, not too dry. Medium body with medium plus carbonation. Not too complex but it's nicely balanced and easy drinking.

 

 

 

 

 

12.7 oz. Bottle

My first from this brewery.

Poured into a Tree House glass a pretty nice cloudy dark golden yellow color, pretty nice carbonation (almost a gusher), with a pretty nice thick/creamy one-finger plus white head, which also leaves some pretty nice creamy sticky lacing behind. The nose is malty, yeasty, tart, with some pretty nice citrus complex (lemon, peach, grapefruit, pineapple), funky. The taste is pretty nice, malty, yeasty, funky, tart, with a pretty nice citrus complex (lemon, peach, grapefruit, pineapple). Medium body, ABV hidden pretty well. Overall, this one surprised me, pretty tasty brew.

 

 

Pours an opaque deep gold/pale amber producing a semi-aggressive, somewhat lasting, shaving cream foam, white head which recedes to a small, clumpy island cap & thin collar ring leaving thin streaks & motes of lace. Aroma is lactic, bread, cobbler dough, green apple, pineapple & lemon wrapped around a Brett-like "Band-Aid"/surgical tape note. So acidic it lightly stings the nostrils. Taste is sour, citric, green apple acetaldehyde prominent, pale malt & hint of thin pineapple with a reserved version of the Brett character found in the nose. As with several other brews of the wild ale style I have tried there is a Gose-like brine developing in the finish & riding over into the aftertaste. I have no idea if salt is an ingredient in this brew or not but the brine is there. The Brett phenolic note, prominent in the nose & found to a lesser degree in the finish & aftertaste I find very pleasant. Throughout the first half of the sip there is a loose balance of sweet & sour with sour rapidly becoming dominant in the lightly acidic, drying finish. The aftertaste is short-lived. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with moderate-high carbonation, juciy, prickly & lightly drawing. Nice but not quite as unique or complex as I expected.

 

 

 

 

Treated as a wild/sour ale, this was poured into a tulip. The appearance was a hazy orange color with a thin white foamy head that dissipated practically immediately. Messy lacing roamed around the sides of the glass. The aroma starts off with sweet to sour white grapes (nice level of vinous); sweet grass; bitter lemon rind; sticky sweet floral and then sour-ness. Tame funk. The flavor is pretty much the same thing with a crisp sour to sweet citrus/(lemon) aftertaste and sticky finish. Added light dry woodiness in the flavor as well. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fair sessionable to sipping quality about it. Carbonation feels right for the style allowing enough palatable harshness coming from the sourness to hit appropriate on my tongue (crisp/movable). Overall, well done wild/sour ale that I would come back to.

 

 

Pours a hazy orange gold with such an impressive billowy head of foam. Long lasting too. Dry hopping permeates my nose. Funky aromas follow, minor amounts of tartness. The taste seems to be more complex to me. Besides what I noted, I get fruity tartness and vinegar like sourness with really deep in the background cracker malt with hints of white pepper. A surprisingly thick mouthfeel for a beer with this relatively low abv. Outstanding!

 

 

 

 

 

 

375 ml bottle, bottled February 2016. Served in a MadTree Teku, the beer pours a mostly clear dark gold color with about an inch and a half off-white head. Head retention and lacing are both good. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like citrus, tropical fruit, bready malt and some grassiness. For the most part I think the taste is similar to the aroma, but there's also some lemon peel, white grape and earthy flavors noticeable too. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's a bit coating with a good amount of carbonation. I liked this sour ale, definitely worth picking up if you've never had it before!