Blue Gesha
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

always good to have new beers from crooked stave, and especially cool when its made with corvus coffee, my favorite roaster of all time. this is a dark sour ale with blueberries and a very special varietal of coffee, and its one ive had for a little bit now, saving in anticipation of sharing it with my brother, which finally got to happen! its a cool beer, loaded with flavor, but one i was glad to be sharing, the acid here is really high, off the charts, more oud bruin type character to me, in that vinegar range, than the bretty farmy funk i am more accustomed to from these guys, although i guess in recent years things have been trending a little more sour overall for them in many projects. cool label, deep brownish color sort of cola toned with reddish edges, fizzy but not holding really any head at all just a minute after the initial pour, sort of unassuming looking really, less fruit stained than i thought, but also maybe too dark to fully see the color impact of the blueberries. tart as heck in the nose, cocoa from the grain and from the coffee too to me, less berry than java, hazelnut and raisin to it to me, some red wine tannins, sour cherry, dark soil, saw dust, red wine vinegar, very acetic, it starts off like its too much, but there is a lot going on here once i get past that, hard to tell of the coffee contributes to the acid or if its all from the ferment and the fruit, very little actual wild character, especially for these guys. the flavor is similar, nice flow though, chalky and dry cocoa up front, some bitterness there too, port wine with attendant nuttiness, a warming cozy element even in this super sour environment from the high end coffee, and its quality is evident. the blueberry is jammy but honest, behind the coffee and the dark malt, sharp the whole way, distracting even from the parts of this that sold me on it in the first place, and i dont think thats great, but i can tell the ingredients rule, i like the malt depth, and there is enough here to make this good, even if a little feels like a lot. lovely not too roasty coffee profile at the end and as it warms, a little fruity sweetness, and strong red wine as well, hurts my teeth but it tastes good. i had higher expectations for this frankly, but i liked it anyway...