WWB Batch #50
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

 

 

 

From the bottle.
Yellow-orange pour, almost clear first pour, and a very hazy bottom pour. Aroma of stone fruit, citrus, cobwebs. Good barrel in the taste, some stone fruit juiciness, but I felt that a lot of the peach had probably faded. Crisp mouthfeel, and a mild tartness. Good bottle overall.

 

Excellent wild ale, very tasty and unique. Most interesting smell, which came up again when it finished its rental. Great drinker. Thanks for hookup, Jason.

 

Bottled on April 2015. Served on a Cantillon wine glass.

L - Pours a translucid golden yellow with little to no head that quickly dissipates. Very alive and bubbly.

S - yeasty, bready aroma with fresh, citrusy, bitter bright notes.

T - very clean, evident sour notes. Peach is barely noticeable which I actually enjoy. As it warms up fruit comes forward as the sourness hides in the background.

F - dry, mostly from the long aging in the wine barrels.

O - Nice, clean, dry. A little less dry and a bit more of fruit would have made this beer perfect!

 

 

 

On tap at HF FOFA 2015. HF Taster glass. I get tons of oak and vanilla from this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

375 mL bottle. Pale clear orange with a small white head. Smell is strong peaches. Tropical Light acidity, but peaches are the highlight. Peach is the highlight of the flavor as well. Strong peach. Dry. Bretty finish. Not very sour. Low carbonation. Delicious fruit flavor.

375ml bottle sealed in translucent yellow wax with Crooked Stave logo pressure cap under the wax.

poured into Crooked Stave snifter. (keeping it proper with the glass!)

bottled April 2015.

Shout out to Andrew for the chance to try this beer! Thanks!

Appearance: Golden orange bodied beer that is opaque. Thick cap of white head with large bubbles. This quickly dissipates into no head and a very thin ring around the glass. Quick swirl bring back a thin cap of head.

Smell: Immediately smelling that trademark Crooked Stave funk, it is deep and rich. A nice bright sour punch in the nose and lots of citrus mingled with robust oak barrel. Hint of peaches, but this has a more citrusy aroma than a peach presence. You can tell this beer has been in barrels for a long time just from the potency of the aroma and the complexity.

Taste: The peach comes out much more in the flavor of this beer and melds nicely with bright citrus. This has a really nice oak presence and lots of that signature crooked stave funk. Also getting really nice mineral character to the flavor of this beer. Lots of lacto and acetic sour notes from this beer. Intricately layered complexity. This beer just continues to evolve as it warms in the best possible ways. There is just sooo much peach when this warms up.

Mouthfeel: medium bodied beer with low carbonation levels. Semi dry finish that continues to build as it warms, but it is also got a juicy quality about it. Very drinkable for a Wild Ale that is at this level of sourness. It also feels slick on the tongue which lets you know that it is as sour as you think the beer is.

Overall: Man, this is quite a blend by Chad. Very deep and complex flavors and aromas that screams of blending old barrels to make this blend. I would put this on the same level as blending efforts that I have sampled from several Side Project beers. This is probably in my top three crooked stave beers that I have drank. I do tend to wonder if batch 50 is reminiscent of what the original batch of Persica was like... always wanted to try that beer.