Pina Colada Sour Collab
Collective Arts Brewing

Pours a mildly hazy yellow-gold with about 2 fingers of rocky white head that fades fast

The aroma is all tropical and no funk, with some malty sweet notes

The taste is more of the same, just tart and juicy and finishing a little sweeter with the coconut flavor

It’s light-medium bodied and moderately carbonated but still leaves a stickiness after the swallow

Overall it was enjoyable, but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to try it again

473 mL can from Superstore; dated Jul 24 2019 and served well chilled... because piña coladas are icy, right? Now listed at 5.2%; this does not appear to be a collaboration anymore, instead having been added to Collective Arts' seasonal line-up.

Pours a foggy golden colour, first sporting a half-inch of loose, frothy white head that lasts for little more than sixty seconds' time. A foamy collar is its only remnant; no cap or lace to speak of; looks alright. As for the aroma, I'm mostly getting a lot of coconut, as well as notes of lemon, crackery malts and some sugary sweetness. Kind of reminds me of a coconut & lemon meringue pie, actually - I'm not usually much for coconut, but this smells enjoyable and enticing.

A mish-mash of flavours that works, for the most part: the coconut continues to figure in strongly, with lemony lactic acidity and pineapple flesh also joining in by mid-sip. The demerara and milk sugars provide a background sweetness that nicely complements the coconut and pineapple, but it all transitions sharply into a lemony, yogurt sourness that spikes right at the finish. Hints of coconut, pineapple and acidity linger into the aftertaste, but only transiently - the coconut lasts the longest, but even it fades within a second or two. Medium-light in body, with moderately low carbonation levels that provide a gentle bite, frothing up ever so slightly in the mouth; the overall texture is soft and smooth.

Final Grade: 3.95, a B+. Collective Arts' Piña Colada Sour is pretty tasty. Not as sweet as expected, and I don't know if the sourness totally works here... but that being said, if it weren't for that sour element, maybe the whole thing would wind up being a sweet mess - who's to say? I think it turned out well enough, though I don't think I'll be buying it regularly at $4.25 a can. If you're at all curious, and have an appreciation for the mixed drink upon which it is based, don't hesitate to take this unique beer for a spin.

 

 

473ml can served cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for something north of $4 CDN. Canned July 10, 2019. Listed at 5.2% ABV.

Appearance - Marginally hazy, golden color with lots of bubbles. Capped with a finger plus of relatively short lived white head. No lacing to speak of.

Smell - Grainy and coconuts up front with subtle hints of pineapple. Maybe I've just changed too many diapers, but also smells slightly of freshly used baby diaper in the best way possible. Not offensive since the fruit is still the star, but it is an interesting combo (and maybe babies smell more like coconuts than I thought?)

Taste - Sour and tart, with a grainy coconut flavor and then some pineapple flavors shine through with a bit more sourness.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, a bit thick due to the lactose (presumably) carbonation is right.

Overall - The execution is really well done, the coconut is quite nice and the pineapple gets a little lost in the shuffle since it's also directly competing with the sour flavors. A Pina Colada by it's nature is sweet, trying to turn it into a sour is a cool idea, but even with some pretty good execution, just doesn't quite work for me. "A" for effort though.

 

 

Appearance: Poured with a paltry half finger of head that did not lace nor retain. The carbonation has a soda pop like consistency to it initially, but it eventually clams down to a thinner but still abundant carbonation found in it's hazy gold body.

Smell: Roasted coconut is the dominant sensation backed with a pineapple undercurrent. I think maybe the barest wisps of malt can be gleaned from it. Warming doesn't really help the matter, and while the smell is good, if I was blindfolded, there would be nothing here that would tell me this is a beer.

Taste: Starts with a mild sweet toasted coconut taste with a slight backing of bready malt and then quickly turns to a sour pineapple that manages to sweep the milder coconut away with it. It's a nice sour with nice flavors and tastes like a Pina Colada. My issue though is that apart from that brief dose of malt early and the souring effect that the pineapple seems to have undergone, there's not a lot of beer aspects here. Also, a bit too much Pineapple and not enough coconut.

Mouthfeel: The transitioning is good, albeit somewhat limit in scope. The carbonation really seems to favor the sour pineapple end of things, being mute at the start. Pineapple dominates the aftertaste as the sour note gets pulled back a notch.

Drinkability: This is without a doubt a summer drinker as it is exceptionally light bodied. Easy to drink and easy to keep down as the carbonation doesn't pass onto the gut on this one. It certainly has a cocktail vibe to it, for better or worse.

Final Thoughts: Alright, let me be clear this is a good beer and it does come as advertised. However, my biggest issue with this offering is it's fundamental nature. Any time I would want this beer, are also the times I would want a Pina Colada and a real Pina Colada would be superior to it every single time. The mild malt start and sour snap are the beer aspects that don't quite do enough for me to not want a Pina Colada proper. That said, it's hard to find anywhere that has Pineapple juice, nevermind coconut cream, so I suppose it does come out ahead in that regard.

 

8oz glass at Beer Revolution YEG Oliver Square. Post tap takeover remnants from this past Friday.

This beer appears a hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with a thin cap of wispy and faintly bubbly off-white head, which leaves some decent streaky webbed lace around the glass as things slowly sink away.

It smells of grainy and crackery cereal malt, subtle pineapple and generic domestic citrus flesh, a suggestion of copra meat, and very little else. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, a hint of soured yeast, coconut water, some mixed citrus rind (maybe some pineapple), and a very tame earthy, musty, and floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its structurally supportive frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and generally smooth, with nothing really getting in the way of a pleasant enough time at this particular juncture. It finishes trending dry, the sour character sort of winning by acclimation.

Overall - the flavours of the titular cocktail are certainly present in this offering, but in a rather restrained manner. Still, a refreshing, if not exactly affordable quaff, I gotta say.

It's pretty good, fun, tart, tons of pineapple, but a little light on the coconut to go all Pina colada. But again this is at the outer limits of even being beer, but still damn tasty.

Moderate pour yields a 1/2 inch white head over a slightly hazy body with some lacing. Nose of pineapple and coconut. Taste mirrors nose exactly with both flavors equally represented. Nice feel and overall an enjoyable dessert (or breakfast!) beer. Cheers!

Tasted in a Rastal Teku from a one pint can on September 5, 2018. Brewed in collaboration with 18th Street Brewery from Hammond, Ind. A sour ale with huge amount of toasted coconut added in the whirlpool and pineapple during fermentation. Lactose was also used during brewing to add to the creamy sweetness.

 

Poured into a tulip, the appearance was a glossy bronzed yellow color with a stifled foamy cap of a head. No lace as the head quickly slid off.
The aroma had a nice meshing of pineapple, sweet toasted coconut and some creamy sweet lactose/milky substance. Nothing sour is noticed, weird, different, but I didn't mind.
The flavor yields towards the sweet meshing of the prior mentioned aromas. So!e sour tropical fruitiness. Mild aftertaste of pineapple with a touch of coconut.
The mouthfeel was almost full bodied with a fair sipping quality about it due to the semi-heavy sweet quality about it. Carbonation and ABV felt on par. Good finish with the pineapple and toasted coconut.
Overall, is this a fruit beer? Barely any sour-ness in this beer makes me think that. Still, it's well brewed and I'd come back to.

 

 

 

 

On tap at Tap and Mallet in Rochester, NY.

This one pours a light golden and bright orange color, with a small foamy head, and a bit of lacing.

This smells great- creamy toasted coconut, tart and juicy pineapple, lemon candies, and a bit of an interesting herbal aroma.

I glad they went heavy on the coconut here- it works well. The lactose combines to give it such a creamy and decadent feel, and feels well balanced on top of the tart pineapple, bringing out a bit of that sweetness. There's some light candied lemon acidity, and no funk- it's probably kettle-soured, if I were to guess.

This is light bodied, crisp and very clean, with a very high level of drinkability.

This is a wonderful pastry sour that I could drink a lot of.