Burk
Side Project Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the jump this is easily one of the thickest, most densely opaque sour beers I've ever poured, truly looking like a glass of unfiltered fall cider with a persistent, thick tan foam blanket that settles to a firm rolling tube of carbonation all around the edge.

Smell is fairly classic but expressive Oud Bruin, with a bit more of floral and tart angle, bringing soft apples, cherry and some charred, roasty balsamic wine barrel that even seems to contribute seedy blackberry at times.

While not sweet like it will sound, taste does evoke caramel apple and cinnamon with tart sour Flanders notes veering near to acetic vinegariness, but pulling back to stick with malic acidity that's oaky, and again sort of seedy--full of accents of bush berries and cherry.

The body is medium-light with a prickly but light carbonation, finishing with a cotton dry chew.

Ok so we have to talk about the look. Pour a murky brown, like diarrhea in a glass, not appetizing. But the rest of the beer is! The smell is baked sour apple with brown sugar and honey. The taste is full of orchard fruits including apple, get both sour and typical fruit variety. Feel is sour but has an unfortunate touch of vinegar on the finish. Nice sour ale for autumn

This is a burgundy, almost rose-tinted beer that pours thick into the glass, like pure apple cider rather than apple juice (or Angry Orchard). The juicy apple taste is authentic, and when combined with the wine barrel-aged nature of the beer, it makes for something rather delectable.

Thank you bstyle for this
375 ml bottle, blend 1, poured into a flute

A- A murky dark red/brown with a two off white head.

S- Cranberries, apples, oak, hint of vinager, touch of wine, some sweet caramel malts, definitely sour.

T- Really sour, apples, cranberries, some cherries, caramel malts, vinager, oak, touch of wine, some leather.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- A very nice Flanders, definitely will make you pucker.

what seemed to me an unlikely collaboration, a mega corporate cider conglomerate and one of the headiest breweries in the country, but here we are, some personal ties perhaps. either way, this is inventive and cool, a sour brown base ale with crabapples, we rarely see those in beer. its a neat beer, the souring bacteria in the yeast mix marrying well with the skinny and pithy apple character, and with a neat malt base to give it some needed depth and balance, dry cocoa and hickory wood notes, bark and mulch and stuff, red wine pucker, and a fruitiness from the fermentation profile as well, its really sour, but it works. i like the best when it warms up a bit, it opens up like crazy, and right when i was about to be critical that there wasnt enough apple to it, it came alive in the middle of the flavor, really tart but also really clean, even with all this grain to it. i like the bigger body as well, the hint of chocolate and red wine, and the chestnut sort of complexion from the rest of the malt. interesting and uncommon, this felt special in the glass, and regardless of who was involved in it, it seems high class to me. perhaps a tad overly sour, it really stings after a minute, but the flavor is real cool. fun little beer here, definitely for sharing, but very enjoyable!

This one pours a nice golden dark brown color, with a small fluffy head, and lots of lacing.

This smells pretty acetic- I think that's probably because crabapples aren't exactly designed for something like this. However, there is a wonderful rich malty aroma- caramel, toffee, and toast- that helps balance out some of that.

Moving towards the taste of this beer- I get green apple, red wine, toasted bread, bittersweet caramel, oak, brown sugar, vinegar, and dusty funk. I still wish it was less acetic and vinegary, but there's a lot to like about this one as well.

This is kind of creamy, with a lingering sourness on the finish, and a soft level of carbonation.

This is definitely not the best beer I've had from Side Project- but it's still a fun and unique beer to try.