Sour Dry Hopped Ale with Peach, Passion Fruit and Raspberry
Collective Arts Brewing

 

 

 

16oz. can into Night Shift stemware.

Kinda looks like watermelon juice. Nose is seedy raspberry, overripe peach and passion fruit. The fruits in this one are all pretty robust and the flavor is evident in the aroma. Beer opens seedy raspberry. Some stone fruit pit in the back with a particular seedy bitterness. More juicy raspberry towards the end with a slight tart passion fruit presence at the finish. Puckering on the aftertaste. Body is light with ample carbonation. Prickly and foamy on the palate and goes down dry, puckering. Lingering, juicy aftertaste. A touch too carbonated.

Solid though the feel is a little off. Worth trying still.

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Jun 20 2019 and served slightly chilled.

Pours very turbid, having a pinkish-magneta hue akin to watermelon juice; meanwhile, one finger of frothy, pinkish-white head fizzles off in about sixty seconds. A thin collar is the only significant remnant, with only a few strands of lace having been scattered about; looks like a fruited sour, I guess. The aroma is fruity and tart, with hints of lemon, passion fruit, raspberry, strawberry and peach. It's nice that they're all accounted for, but I wouldn't say that any of the fruits *really* popped out at me.

Very tasty stuff - tart lemon acidity is apparent right from the get go, with sour peach and raspberry complementing it quite nicely. There's a weakly grainy, wheaty malt backbone, but between the fruitiness and the sourness, it's barely even detectable; notes of passion fruit, grapefruit and raspberry carry on through the finish and into the aftertaste, which swiftly trends from tart towards dry. Medium in body, with middling carbonation levels that provide a crisp bit of spritz to the mouthfeel; excellent drinkability. I don't usually drink multiple sours in a night, but I wouldn't have minded another can of this.

Final Grade: 4.19, an A-. Collective Arts' Dry Hopped Sour with Peach, Passion Fruit and Raspberry is aptly named, albeit clunkily so. I mean, it's undeniably sour, and the fruits do work together well enough as a unit - though personally I would've appreciated just a little more peach flavour. Even still, I liked this more than most Ontario sours, and I'd probably take it over their Jam Up The Mash, even though it's at best a marginal improvement (or maybe even a step sideways).

 

 

 

Vibrant and tropical body, the colour of ripe pink grapefruit flesh. Head like shaved himalayan salt, fine and full like a marshmallow. Colour me enticed.
Nothing but bright, sweet, fruit aromas - strawberry, grapefruit, passion fruit, mango. Almost astonishingly fruity. Like a soda, or ice cream.
Comes through on the tasebuds too, kicking of with fruit cocktail melody notes, juicy, but lined with a puckering sourness that brings out the grapefruit, which lingers the most through the finish. Super dry and refreshing. Medium-light body and carbonation means it drinks like juice too.

Perfect brew for a hot summer day. It's an approachable sour, relatively simple, not a lot of complexity. Fruity & fun.

 

 

 

This sour is absolutely top notch and is easily the best I have had. If you’re looking for a hardcore sour that goes above and beyond most sours this is for you, but be warned this SOUR isn’t for the faint of heart!! The finish of fresh raspberries is an extreme tart blast to your face that hits you immediately upon first sip, becoming a beginning point and an end point. It will get your cheeks puckering and your jowls watering for more right away, but that’s not it, you also get complex flavours from the peach and passion fruit that create a heavy, yet perfectly balanced three flavour sour.

I wouldn’t suggest drinking more than 2-3 a night, as it might become too much sour for your stomach, but you’ll be coming back for more the next night. I hope this beer becomes a mainstay in the already impressive Collective Arts lineup. If you want a more subtle sour their Jam Up The Mash is also really good, but this is next level. Everyone including the biggest beers snobs I know who I’ve introduced this to have been absolutely blown away by it.

 

Appearance - Pours a rose pink with two fingers of bubbly white head that quickly dissipates.

Smell - peach, passionfruit, raspberry, earthy, floral, and grassy hops, bready wheat malts, and earthy yeast.

Taste - tart peach, passionfruit, and raspberry upfront. The earthy, floral, and grassy hops follow suit. The bready wheat malts and earthy yeast finish off the brew.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes tart with the peach, passionfruit, and raspberry lingering.

Overall - An enjoyable fruited sour that is tart but not too cloying. Another gem of a brew from the folks at Collective Arts!