Hollaback Girl
Prairie Artisan Ales

 

This may be the best sour I have had to date...

...Full disclosure, I simply am not a sour beer guy. I like and enjoy every other style, but sours just aren't my thing. That said, when I come across one I think that I might enjoy, I give it a shot. And though I have come across a sour here and there that I tolerated, liking it was something altogether different. That was until today. What's funny to me is that I have had other sours from Prairie Artisan and this one without any doubt takes the cake. Spectacular...

 

I have really enjoyed Prairie Artisan Ale’s stouts, and felt like I owed it to myself to explore some of their sours, especially now that the cold weather is long gone.

I am not a sophisticated beer reviewer so will note at the outset that this felt more like a fruit beverage than anything else. Very little carbonation, buoyant head, imperceptible alcohol. It was tart but not painful, and I really enjoyed the bouquet/aroma. It is certainly thirst-quenching, and so cloudy/opaque that you feel like you’re drinking a smoothie; for that reason I add points to the mouthfeel. Predominant flavors for me were banana, passion fruit, and pineapple.

Prairie’s marketing and approach are truly refreshing, and this was a fun drink for what it was. I would not hesitate to recommend it to a discerning connoisseur.

 

another weird one from these guys, this one more in the smoothie range, banana, mango, passion fruit, and pineapple in a kettle sour, but like so many of theirs, its not really sour, just tart, tart like passion fruit actually, which is the added ingredient i smell and taste the most, but the banana isnt far behind, mushy and ripe and starchy almost more plantain-like in texture. this is muted from the tap, thick and gloopy with almost chunky pulp on the edges of my glass, very little head after a second, just kind of looks like a banana smoothie. it smells more sweet than sour, lots of ripe banana, canned pineapple, generic tropical character including coconut, white wine for a second, orange candy, pleasant but not beery at all, malt and hops are not a factor, and that is true in the flavor as well, where the passion fruit stands out with the banana, a little lemon curd thing makes it almost creamy, and maybe there is some wheat at its core, but its all fruit, juicy and oddly more heavy feeling than the flavors seem to want, an odd juxtaposition thats not all the way groovy on the palate, this feels more like a meal and less like a drink, even though there actually is some carbonation in it. like so many of these from prairie of late, this is a small doses thing, marginally better than novelty level, but flavored to near oblivion and just not very beery. fun and almost healthy seeming, but also dense and sugary. people must be drinking these because they keep on making them...