Petite Sour Cassis
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

 

Copper colored with orange highlights. Cloudy due to fruit sediments. The aroma is of deeply tart currants. The taste is fruity and tart with the currants dominating. The mouth offers moderate carbonation and is brisk, crisp, and refreshing.

Poured a bright red with golden highlights. It smelled of black currants. Tasted slightly sour and tart with a hint of sweetness. Black currant taste that is reminiscent of red wine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like a clean, sour rosé wine, Crooked Stave's "Petite Sour" series lands at the precipice of cassis- a tart and tangy purple, pink, red berry with a sharp peppery, tannin bite and a refreshing taste even without its sour beer accompaniment. In the hands of these fine brewers, these berries are destined for greatness.

Piercing the nose, the sharp but delicate nature of the fruit plays out like cranberry and white grape upon a sour scent of light must, citrus and cider. Bright pink and with a calming peach glow, the light pink color takes on the appearance of a frothy rosé. Sublte sweetness of powdered sugar and wheat dough plays out softly on the early palate.

The sweetness dissolves effortlessly on the middle palate and the brunt of sourness begins to command the balance. The natural fruitiness of the ale shares its lemon, lime, tart green apple, sour white grape medley along with the elevated brightness of red berries. Its skins apply a peppery bite to go along with sourness and the robust nature of cassis enters red grape territory with raspberry, cranberry and cherry not far off.

Light, dry and remarkably refreshing, the finish is creamy and sour with a zip of carbonation that lifts the ale and brightens its sour power. Restrained earthiness carries a hint of burlap and a brisk whiff of the sea while the ale falls into a short aftertaste of sour fruit and berry.

 

From the color to the finish, light is the key word with this beer.

Pours a translucent tannish pink, with a minimal head, and fine carbonation. The nose begins with CS yeast, funk, and oak. The taste begins with a bready yeast, then gives way to fruit and oak in the finish. Moderate tartness. The fruit is very light, but appropriate. Thin feel with a little bite on the end.

definitely one of the more delicate beers in this series, but also a great use of he black currant at the same time, coming through with great clarity and authenticity in this now famous wild ale base. sold as black currant, not cassis on the chalkboard in the taproom, but same thing. pink in color with a light haze and not much head. the aroma is sharp from the bacterial fermentation, white wine notes and lemon, also a soft wild rustic funk and then the fruit, which is clean and bright, not sweet at all, and reminds me of fruit juice fresh pressed. the flavor is like the nose but the currants are there right from the start, again delicate, but very much true to the fruit, piquant and interesting, not too much. more sour than funk in this iteration too, a very clean finish, and better carbonation than it looks like i has. this whole series has been insanely impressive, and while some will find this really mild, i think its a great use of the currants, one of the more genuine expression of them i have encountered in beer, and the sourness here is a perfect platform for them. another top tier beer from these guys.