Nectarous
Four Winds Brewing Co.

 

Really nice Grizette style beer. Slightly tart but dry finish. Clean and easy to drink. Enjoyed this beer quite a lot.

 

Serving: 650 ml bottle poured into a white wine glass.

Appearance: Lightly hazy, pale golden yellow with a heaping head of white foam and streaky lace.

Smell: Deep, complex nose of citrus, savory herbs, and faint whiffs of creosote.

Taste: Bright, refreshingly acidic with early season stone fruit, citrus, a little barnyard funk and dank notes.

Mouthfeel: Light, clean and crisply carbonated.

Overall: Clean, crisp and refreshing, but with more than a little hop and yeast funk to make it complex beyond its weight.

 

 

 

Poured from the can into a teku glass. No visible can dating, or smudged.

Absolutley blooming and frothy large but controlled bleach white head. Excellent staying power, like a bold IPA, and a gleaming bright white appearance. Light touches of soapy lacing, while sitting on a shiny opaque but not hazy lemon yellow that's in the goldilocks range, not too dark or light .. Just looking right.. Very great looking brew.

The aroma is gang busters. A giant whiff of tropical fruit, soft acidity and a rush that makes your head go places. Giant amounts of passion fruit, hints even key lime and a touch of pie crust sugar crumble. Tropical guava, mango, you name it… you can get lost here. Touches even creamy notes of vanilla strangely in the mix. I am afraid to even drink this because I am convinced this can't be topped and it wont be better at this point… har har..

The palate is still quite enjoyable, but seems only a slight let down from the nose, which is understandable. A very ight body, supportive enough, but missing a bit of edge to push this wild into exceptional territory. Still the palate hits solidly with good tropical guava, passion fruit, and mango flavors. Real light bodied and comes off more mimosa and slightly flat champagne in feel, but gives excellent fruit character to the palate. Doesn't quite hint of souring, strangely, as it seems to have really mellowed out in acidity and funk, but in a nice way.

I am pretty certain that this is quite a few months old in the can, but seeing that this is so highly rated there was no way I could pass it up for trying. It holds up real impressively, I'd be curious if some of the dry hopping would be more evident for a fresher beer to try. Definitely want to be having this again in the future, and that bouquet is just exquisite!!

 

 

16 oz / 473 mL can dated 8/8/19 on the bottom (so presumably a little over 6 months old) poured into a narrow stemmed beer (for my purposes) glass.

Pale straw-yellow coloring (a previous reviewer mentioned pineapple juice, which is spot-on from a color perspective) with medium haze and full opaqueness but zero turbidity. A minute stream of carbonation cascades up the sides of the glass, feeding a (initially) big, fluffy, soapy, off-white head of multi-sized bubbles. That head drops to a bubbly film quite quickly, with odd spots of lacing down the glass. Quite pretty for a wild ale, and the hazy glow adds to the attractiveness.

Delicate but really lovely nose, with both sweet and sour/tart notes: lemon, nectarine, passionfruit, wine grapes, granny smith apple, under-ripe pineapple, damp green grass, juicy orange, peach, pear, and a slight horsey funk. Quite floral, thinking honeysuckle and rose pedals, with a little peppery spice. Really, really wonderful with its nuance, layers, and complimentary components. Absolutely digging the aroma profile, which remains true to the wild/sour category while introducing some nice (but not overpowering) IPA characteristics.

Heavy wine and cider influence on the tongue, with a very nice balance of tartness and fruity sweentess, plus a little Brett-like bite. Grapefruit pith, lime zest, under-ripe pineapple and peach, nectarine skin, passionfruit, dry Chardonnay, starchy greens, and yeast roll. Slightly puckering and prickly on the tongue, but finishes extremely dry and clean with a lingering note of sour green apple and lemon. It both is and isn't sour, which is quite interesting. There's also a note of salinity in the background. I'm not loving the taste profile quite as much as the remarkable aroma profile, but it's still very tasty and extremely drinkable.

Light but soft feel, nicely carbonated with a wonderful prickle, plus a nice coating aspect on the teeth and throat. There's residual citrus and pith on the teeth that provides a nice juicy kick in the aftermath.

This one comes with some pretty high marks by BA reviewers, but it largely lives up to the billing. Really outstanding beer that I would absolutely seek out again.

Hazy pineapple juice with no visible carbonation and 4 fingers of glassy white head.

Smells of nectarines and fresh green herbs, pineapple and candy.

Bone dry sour of passionfruit, pineapple and dank green herb.

Light body with champagne carbonation. Dry finish.

I got this in Banff, AB, and am drinking in Redding, CA, Dec 4th, 2019

Hazy pale gold color. Pours very little head which left no lacing.

Scent of mixed fruit with some tart and slightly funky overtones. Swirling the glass kicked up a bit of barnyard.

Tart fruit flavor with some light yeast and mild bitters. The aftertaste is bitter sour, more like a light grapefruit than hops. A bit of barnyard kicks in at the end.

Low carbonation level, so it doesn't foam up much. Somewhat astringent.

My notes on this beer from a year ago make no mention of the barnyard smell and flavor. It is fairly low level, but I have been hypersensitized by all the local beer that tastes of nothing but barnyard this year. I would be much happier if the barnyard was knocked down by an order of magnitude. This has lost more than a full point in the score from last year. The sooner the barnyard plague in the region is over, the better.

On tap in BC at 5.5% ABV.
Pours slightly hazy, pale golden with a fine white head.
Mild cooked nectarine and bread in the nose.
Excellent, nectarine heavy flavor.
Lightly carbonated body is a bit too thin.

Purchased at Unwined liquor store at the Edmonton City Centre.

650ml bottle poured into tulip.

Pours a slightly hazy lemon yellow with two plump fingers of head the colour of clean bedsheets that leaves more of that cool Four Winds Grecian urn lace as it recedes.

Smells of juicy sliced peaches and nectarines, mango, pineapple chunks, sour green grapes, passionfruit juice, lemon juice, white bread, softly peppery yeast, mild cheesy funk and some gentle green hops.

Tastes of lemon zest, peach and nectarine flesh, more tropical fruit like mango and pineapple, bready pale malt, soft white cheese, dusted pepper and more leafy, citrusy hops.

Feels light and airy. Light bodied with creamy carbonation. FInishes off-dry.

Verdict: Vigorusly recommended. This stuff is fantastic, tart and fruity and juicy. Drink immediately.

 

Hazy dark blonde; lots of tangerine + peach; bright white vinegar, white peaches, slight dank, and some orange underneath.

4 4.25 4.25 4 4.25

Bright - not getting any sourness off the nose. And sure enough, there are a ton of delicate, yummy orchard fruit notes on the palate. I can’t say, though, that any of them are hops. I definitely shouldn’t have let this sit for almost a year.

Nectar, all right, but I want it fresh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not often I get a growler at a non-brewery and they hold up this well. Aromas/flavours of granadilla, passionfruit, peach. Semi-dry. Incredibly tight. Top 3 beers of 2017.

Aromas of acidic fruit, hops blending very well with the acidic notes. Light on the palate with both elements coming together again. Grapefruit like acidity with notes of lemon. A lovely balance to this dry hopped sour that comes very close to Jelly King quality. Great stuff.

 

 

Poured from fridge temp. Pours a light yellow color with good transparency. Good carbonation. Smell is a mix of hops and sour funk. Quite amazing. Lots of citrus peel. Lots of lemon. Taste is amazing. Lots of lemon, sour, and funk. Mouthfeel is great. This is an outstanding beer.