Origins
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

 

 

750ml cork & caged bottle with no date.
Surprisingly dark. It is burgundy in color. A small head forms and quickly settles. Very nice aroma that is vinous, mildly funky, with notes of oak. The flavor is not as good. Unfortunately plagued by a band-aid, medicinal flavor. Moderately tart with real nice vinous flavor. Mild vanilla, oak, and Brett notes. Good body with nice carbonation. Lively without being harsh.

 

Bottle dated 11/2014 - Batch 4

Pours maroon burgundy amber red-brown with a frothy light khaki colored foam head. Smells oaky, tart, fruity, slightly acetic, lambic-esque, a little dark, vinous, with notes of red wine, oak barrel, woody spice, toasty hay, roasty caramel malts, raspberry, dark red fruits, strawberry, plum, cherry, red berries, grapes, barnyardy funk, and dusty floral earthy grassy hops. Tastes sour like acidic red wine, notes of dark cranberry, tart cherry, strawberry, raspberry, plum, grapes, dark red fruit, red wine oak barrel, hint of vinegar, mild chocolate, caramel malts, dark toffee, molasses, toasty hay, woody spice, barnyardy funk, with dusty floral earthy grass. Feels medium bodied, slick with moderate high carbonation. Overall a really nice burgundy sour ale aged in oak barrels.

 

 

 

Light brown color.
Aroma with notes of lemon, acetic grapes and oak.
Flavor with notes of lemon, musty oak, wine, controlled funky and aged hops. Dry and acid aftertaste.
Light body with appropriate carbonation.
Refreshing and assertive Sour with oak wine notes.

 

 

 

 

 

Gotta say I was not a fan of this when we drank it at the airbnb place we stayed for the Firestone Walker Invitational 2018. Pours a ruddy brown and dark red, 1/4" off white head on the top. Ain't much in the way of clarity for this beer. Biggest aroma being pushed out of this was red grapes/red wine barrel. Big in that way. Wet American oak. Mild earthy leather counterpart.

The taste was about a 5/10 on the sour scale, but about a 8/10 on the vinegar/acetic acid scale. Wasn't super enjoyable in that regard. Still pounding insides with red wine barrel dominance. Overall this beer just didn't do it for me, seems to be pretty pricey, but you don't get a top tier product out of it despite the huge cash influx to acquire. There are superior beers with red wine impact like this that don't get all vinegar in the taste and mouth feel. Would not recommend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

750 ml corked and caged bottle.

Hazy burgundy to brown body. Off-white head that starts super creamy and then fades to a nice sticky lace.

Complex balance of warm toasted maltiness, musty aged oaky flavors, red wine, faint acetic sourness, with some funky brettanomyces nuances and just a trace of roastiness on the finish.

A fantastic sour beer with plenty of complexity to sip and savour but also the balance to keep the drinker coming back. Drinks much “bigger” than the 6.5% abv. A worthy American version of a Flanders red/brown - seems to be a hybrid of those styles.

 

Currently #26 on the Top 100 Colorado Beers list; I'm excited to try it especially since it's from a beloved brewery in my home state I've been drinking beers from since they were still putting them out at Funkwerks' Taproom.

BOTTLE: Purchased at a beer store in Colorado. 750ml brown glass format with a hood-and-wire cage over a branded cork. Label is classily understated; peach in colour.

"Burgundy sour ale aged in oak barrels." "Ages in large oak foeders, and finally, smaller wine casks." [It's unclear if they actually use virgin oak barrels given their suspicious alternate utilization of the terms 'foeder' and 'barrel']. 6.5% ABV. "Serve at 46-54 F."

HEAD: ~1cm in height. Pale khaki in colour. ~1 minute head retention. Leaves no lacing on the sides of the glass as it recedes.

BODY: Auburn/copper colour. Nontransparent. Semitranslucent. No yeast/lees are visible.

Appears aptly carbonated. Not unique or special in appearance, but certainly appealing for the style.

AROMA: Grape must. Acetic acid. Wine-soaked barrel wood. Brettanomyces funkiness. Red wine vinegar. Obvious bacterial acidity. Faint tart cherry. Berry skin. A scintilla of leather. Bacterial twang.

Malt profile seems neutral, letting the yeast take over and guide the aroma. Lacks any overt hop character.

Aromatic intensity is moderately high. Promises an acidic beer of moderate (~5-7/10) sourness.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Cherries. Berry skin. Acetic acid/red wine vinegar. Leather. Wood. Brettanomyces funkiness (bruxellensis). Bacterial acidity, twang, and sourness (in terms of sourness it's about a 6/10 - not puckering, but certainly obvious).

Has a smacky yet refreshing mouthfeel rife with high acidity. Smooth. Slightly dry. Leathery. Evokes withered fruit skin or rough vine.

Oak isn't vivid in the mix; I get wood but it isn't recognizably oak. Wine tones do surface, but they're not so intense as to eclipse the beer. The wine barrel complements the flavour profile but contributes only mild flavour itself.

Not oily, gushed, hot, astringent, or boozy. A bit undercarbonated perhaps.

OVERALL: A worthwhile American answer to the Belgian sour ales dominating the sour ale category. Though its oak aging (which I assume is just foeders for virgin oak, not barrels as implied by the label description) and wine barrel aging fail to bring as much to the beer as a whole as they ought to and it wants for the microfloral and bacterial nuance of proper spontaneous fermentation, it's a solid beer that's well worth trying and possibly even aging.

I don't know that I'd contend this is one of Crooked Stave's finest beers, but that says more about the ubiquity of quality beers in Crooked Stave's lineup than it does about this beer. Definitely one I'd happily order again - and one that I would were it not for its relatively high price - and a brew I'm proud is from my home state.

It doesn't one up most quality Belgian sour ales nor does it best U.S. favourites from the likes of Russian River, Jolly Pumpkin, Allagash, Lost Abbey, or the like, but it's definitely upper tier fare.

Low B+ (3.76) / VERY GOOD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours brownish red, good head of foam and lacing. Smells of tart cherries, wood, some malty notes of light toasted bread and caramel, vinous. Sour cherries, acetic acid, vinous, but with a malt kick. Finishes woody and very dry. I am glad that I bought this rather expensive 750ml. ~$30.