Wild Hare
Hourglass Brewing

 

 

The Hourglass Brewery "Wild Hare Wild Ale"
750 ml brown glass bottle, corked & caged, no apparent freshness dating
$14.99 @ Knightly Spirits, Orlando, FL

Notes via stream of consciousness while tasting: Opened with a pop as the cork was pulled. Poured a foamy head of white over a hazy orange-amber body. Head retention and lacing are lacking, but that's common with sour beers, so OK. Aroma of Brettanomyces and sugary malt with juicy fruit. The sugary malt is kind of like rock candy and honey with a touch of cereal. The Brett is soft, expressing oiled hard leather with a metallic edge. "Juicy Fruit" might be a good way to describe the fruitiness as it's not particularly descriptive, but it does have a "Juicy Fruit Gum" character. Shall we just say tropical? And all of that carries over into the flavor. It's tart but it's sweet, and it's mildly funky and citrusy and tropical: apple, cherry, papaya, pineapple, tangerine, apricot, lime zest, earth, wet rope, grass, subtle "horse blanket", clove, plastic. I like the sweet-tart balance, and I don't mind the lack of the more funky Brett characteristics (metallic, barnyard) although there is a hint of that. In the end it's sweetish and funky, and it all balances! To cover bases: Medium bodied with a zesty, fine-bubbled natural carbonation that's slightly above standard. Overall, excellent. It's sweetish, and not too intense or deep, but remarkably easy to drink, and still - funky! It might not open the eyes of initiates, but it will satisfy them, and it should be a great intro beer for those looking for a kind of funky Brett beer.

Fermented with Brett.