Cruel Beauty
Heretic Brewing Company
- From:
- Heretic Brewing Company
- California, United States
- Style:
- American Porter
- ABV:
- 7.8%
- Score:
- +4 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 4.34 | pDev: 7.6%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 4
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Nov 17, 2020
- Added:
- Mar 12, 2017
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 1
NO SCORE
-
-
We take our award-winning Shallow Grave porter and put it in red wine barrels with Brettanomyces, bacteria, and tart cherry puree. After two years, we have Cruel Beauty. The delicate balance of chocolate, slightly tart cherries, oak, and the funk of the Brettanomyces is a thing of beauty. The cruel part is that we have to wait another two years for the next batch.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by ovaltine from Indiana
4.1/5 rDev -5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.1/5 rDev -5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours blackish with mahogany brown edges and a dark tan head that fades instantaneously. The nose has cherries most notably, a subtle chocolate aroma, but no sign of the barrel.
The cherries are also prominent on the taste, but the chocolate is significantly more present, and there’s the slightest hint of barrel with a subtle oak flavor.
If you like cherries, you’ll like this beer, and I like cherries - a LOT - so this is very nice, but I was expecting a bit more.
Jul 18, 2020The cherries are also prominent on the taste, but the chocolate is significantly more present, and there’s the slightest hint of barrel with a subtle oak flavor.
If you like cherries, you’ll like this beer, and I like cherries - a LOT - so this is very nice, but I was expecting a bit more.
Reviewed by ichorNet from Massachusetts
4.34/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.34/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Huh, this is on BA as an American Wild Ale, but the can itself says it is a porter barrel-aged with tart cherries. Is it a sour stout/porter kinda deal? I honestly don't know what to expect with this beer. Heretic has made some pretty good stuff, and I recently really liked their Goo imperial BBA stout. I don't know what type of barrels this was aged in, but I guess I'll have to make some guesses as I work through it. Wish me luck!
The pour is a nice looking deep brown color with some tar-black thickness to it once it starts building up in my glass. I can somewhat see a ruby/mahogany undertone if I hold it up to light, though that element is also a bit apparent as the beer pours. Builds up with a solid head of tan foam that sinks rather quickly to just about nothing. No lace, no legs. Oh yeah, we probably have a sour on our hands, don't we? That's what this decanting is saying to me, anyway!
The nose is, well... yup. This is definitely a sour. Or, rather, it was likely built as a porter but it has definitely gone sour as a result of time spent in some type of barrels. I'm going to assume some type of red wine, because this does not smell like a BBA soured beer. A little bit of tannic warmth, dark red berries, cherry, wood smoke, leather, bacterial funk, milk chocolate, coffee beans, brown sugar, earthy tobacco, Merlot grapes. Huh, yeah, this is certainly something else. It's somewhat reminding me of my first (and, unfortunately, only) experience with Supplication by Russian River so many years ago. That's a good thing, for the record.
On the tongue, this is a little more airy than I expected, though it's definitely chock-full of flavors. Immediately, I get chocolate-covered cherries with a light coffee liqueur backing, as well as some requisite barrel-aging charm in the form of good ol' funk. Only slightly tart, surprisingly, but there are some tannins and leathery notes that contribute a lot of complexity, kinda nailing the acidity down and only letting it get so far on my palate. I'm okay with that; it definitely feels like a porter... maybe a semi-smoky one, but the roast is on-point and the transition to the finish highlights this nicely: it's all charred grains, just super dense and drying, with more woodiness and dark fruit leading to a succinct finish. Ya know, this is really good. I actually kinda had my doubts, because sometimes a beer "souring" like this doesn't feel at all intentional, but this comes across really confidently and there's nothing off about it at all. I like it a lot. It's well-balanced and fun to drink. I'd get it again.
Feb 03, 2020The pour is a nice looking deep brown color with some tar-black thickness to it once it starts building up in my glass. I can somewhat see a ruby/mahogany undertone if I hold it up to light, though that element is also a bit apparent as the beer pours. Builds up with a solid head of tan foam that sinks rather quickly to just about nothing. No lace, no legs. Oh yeah, we probably have a sour on our hands, don't we? That's what this decanting is saying to me, anyway!
The nose is, well... yup. This is definitely a sour. Or, rather, it was likely built as a porter but it has definitely gone sour as a result of time spent in some type of barrels. I'm going to assume some type of red wine, because this does not smell like a BBA soured beer. A little bit of tannic warmth, dark red berries, cherry, wood smoke, leather, bacterial funk, milk chocolate, coffee beans, brown sugar, earthy tobacco, Merlot grapes. Huh, yeah, this is certainly something else. It's somewhat reminding me of my first (and, unfortunately, only) experience with Supplication by Russian River so many years ago. That's a good thing, for the record.
On the tongue, this is a little more airy than I expected, though it's definitely chock-full of flavors. Immediately, I get chocolate-covered cherries with a light coffee liqueur backing, as well as some requisite barrel-aging charm in the form of good ol' funk. Only slightly tart, surprisingly, but there are some tannins and leathery notes that contribute a lot of complexity, kinda nailing the acidity down and only letting it get so far on my palate. I'm okay with that; it definitely feels like a porter... maybe a semi-smoky one, but the roast is on-point and the transition to the finish highlights this nicely: it's all charred grains, just super dense and drying, with more woodiness and dark fruit leading to a succinct finish. Ya know, this is really good. I actually kinda had my doubts, because sometimes a beer "souring" like this doesn't feel at all intentional, but this comes across really confidently and there's nothing off about it at all. I like it a lot. It's well-balanced and fun to drink. I'd get it again.
Reviewed by CaliforniaJohnson from California
5/5 rDev +15.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
5/5 rDev +15.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
This is an overall gorgeous beer. It is probably Heretic's most complex beer too. Aging a porter in red wine barrels and turnig it sour is not accomplished all too often, so it definitely caught my attention.
Each aspect that goes into it can be either smelled, tasted, or both; it isn't any sort of gimmick.
Simply great!
Dec 31, 2019Each aspect that goes into it can be either smelled, tasted, or both; it isn't any sort of gimmick.
Simply great!
Reviewed by Everydayoff from Thailand
4.01/5 rDev -7.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.01/5 rDev -7.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
On-tap served in a snifter at Hair of the Dog, Bangkok.
Very deep brown to black in color with thick tan head that stands with pretty good retention, it sinks to some bubble along the rim and leaves low to moderate amount of lacing on the glass-side.
In a nose, tart and sour cherry obviously, grape, winy, oaky tannin, also with mild suggestion of dark bread and slight roasted and toasted.
The taste is dominated all over by tartness, sourness, and fruitiness from cherry together with the winy and oaky flavor from its time in the barrel with notes of oak, tannin, grape, and some woodiness. There is almost no roasted and toasted flavor here but only just some dark bread as the evidence of malt.
The body is medium with smooth mouthfeel and some good crispness yet lively carbonation. The feeling is very refreshing with a pleasantly dry finish.
Sour and tart from cherry plus with a strong winy and oaky tannin, it is super refreshing and tasty indeed with some complexity touch to make it much inviting.
Nov 23, 2017Very deep brown to black in color with thick tan head that stands with pretty good retention, it sinks to some bubble along the rim and leaves low to moderate amount of lacing on the glass-side.
In a nose, tart and sour cherry obviously, grape, winy, oaky tannin, also with mild suggestion of dark bread and slight roasted and toasted.
The taste is dominated all over by tartness, sourness, and fruitiness from cherry together with the winy and oaky flavor from its time in the barrel with notes of oak, tannin, grape, and some woodiness. There is almost no roasted and toasted flavor here but only just some dark bread as the evidence of malt.
The body is medium with smooth mouthfeel and some good crispness yet lively carbonation. The feeling is very refreshing with a pleasantly dry finish.
Sour and tart from cherry plus with a strong winy and oaky tannin, it is super refreshing and tasty indeed with some complexity touch to make it much inviting.
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