Dark Perennial
Urban Family Brewing Co.

 

 

 

one of the best and most creative beers we had when we visited urban family. this on is a dark wheat based sour with rhubarb, blackberries, and boysenberries, and its really distinctive and delicious. deep brown with a purple glow in appearance, a little haze visible, but not real dense, and not a ton of head, a lot of the beers on tap in here poured a little flat. the aroma is killer, the tartness of the rhubarb and the lacto together is really nice, i can appreciate the fresh rhubarb more than i thought i would be able to. the berries are jammy and sweet and needed to balance the mouthwatering sourness. the flavor is similar, with a really neat back and forth between the rhubarb and the berries, but with the sourness winning the tug of war for sure, piquant and tart but also quite dry even with the berries in here, more black than boysen for me. lightly astringent, tannic from the wheat, slightly wild along with bacterial, and very complex and compelling. just the right amount of sourness and flavor with it, the rhubarb and a light flanders type vinegar complexion, and the roast of the wheat contributing a light cocoa note. really awesome beer right here, more carbonation would improve it radically though too...

edit: busted out a bottle after more than three years in the cellar, drinking amazingly well right now, and while still quite tart, seems more mellow and oddly less acidic than i remember, not something that usually happens with very sour beer over time. more lively than i remember which is nice, some bottle conditioning has gone on. i taste a lot of the dark wheat now, still some sweetness to the fruit, rhubarb still seems fresh to me too. the funk has come up to match the pucker which i like, and complexity is super high here. i loved this with the age on it and have to raise a couple of scores, time has done a lot for this, an already excellent beer. chocolate dipped blackberries and a very unique fermentation profile. yum.