Just the Juice
Prairie Artisan Ales

 

Pours a murky burnt orange/yellow color small white head fades fast, no lace.

Aroma is mango and orange juice with hints of vanilla to sweeten it out a little. Pretty much all its got going on.

Taste is well like the nose defiantly juice dominates the added vanilla makes it sweeter. Not really sour just more like you took some kids juice and made it sweeter so they would drink it, might come across a hint of tartness but that's about it.

Mouthfeel is medium with just a touch of carbonation zest in the finish.

Overall fruit juice with some alcohol thrown in for us adults. Nice tasting fruit juice , sour not so much.

 

 

 

 

12 fl oz pull-tab can:

Nabbed a 4-pack from A's Wine & Spirits in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Receipt wasn't itemized so I don't know the cost.

"Imperial pastry sour ale with blood orange, mango, apricot, and vanilla." 7.5% ABV.

HEAD: Dissipates in 30 seconds or less, leaving no legs.

BODY: Murky dark orange with ample visible lees and/or sediment.

Not much to look at.

AROMA: Citric. Blood orange, sure. Mango or apricot puree. Lactose-y sweetness. Vanillin/artificial vanilla extract/ersatz imitation vanilla.

Seems unnaturally sweet, which I guess helps cover the ABV but doesn't promise a great drinking sour ale. And it doesn't seem particularly sour either...acidic sure and maybe a biteen tangy, but not sour, funky, or bacterial.

The fruity aromatics don't seem particularly fresh.

Aromatic intensity is high for a kettle sour.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Off-puttingly sweet, which cuts any tangy sourness it might otherwise present to the palate. Gooey mango syrup, apricot puree, imitation vanilla/vanillin, wheat, 2-row, lactose sweetness. I'd recommend they ditch the lactose and the vanillin; this isn't any better for being a pastry beer on top of trying to be a sour.

The sweetness hides the ABV, but I don't know that it's necessarily a good thing.

Smooth, wet, coating, medium-bodied, unrefreshing (given its sweetness), well carbonated.

OVERALL: Not a beer I really want a second can of, and not amongst Prairie's best work. Feels like a hodgepodge of bad ideas that ends up feeling like a bit of a forced gimmick...I mean an imperial pastry kettle sour? Fine for what it is, but not a standout ale.

Low C / AVERAGE

Pours an expected look orange color with no head. Strong fruity notes muffled the vanilla but it's there. Vanilla flavor on top, next the orange comes out. Then i get apricot notes, I Also pick up the tangy sweet mango flavor. Thick and carbonated, tangy and tingly. I could drink this again.

Pours an effervescent & very hazed amber, beige head goes MIA immediately. Very murky, zero head retention & lacing

S: Vanilla, Orange & Apricot

T: Vanilla, mango, dryness, & a touch if sour/tart orange up front. Some orange creamsicle notes mix with mango, tartness & a little pineapple as this warms. Finishes sweet with orange, vanilla & apricot, a little tartness

MF: Fairly chewy in the body with slight carbonation, some acidity & enamel stripping stickyness

Was shocked at how much a liked this. The sweet, tart & acidic play off each other well