Rainbow Sherbet Sour
Collective Arts Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

473 ml can served cold into a chalice. LCBO purchase for $4.55 CDN. No visible canning date.

Appearance - Hazy salmon colored brew with lots of rocky off-white head and good staying power. Minimal lacing, but the head retention is for several minutes.

Smell - Loads of raspberry, hints of lime and maybe some orange. I get very little pineapple which is advertised. Raspberry is intense and bursting with aroma.

Taste - Fairly assertively sour, raspberries again leading the way with orange and lime mingled in and a citrusy sherbet flavor lingering in the aftertaste. A touch hot or peppery.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, booze well hidden with prickly carbonation and a weird hot / cold sensation on the tongue to close, which kind of feels like sherbet.

Overall - Well crafted and flavorful as usual, wish that the other flavors orange and pineapple especially were a little more popped up as this is mostly raspberry and lime, but pretty balanced and sour without going to far. Worth a tipple, but given the cost and my less than extensive love for fruited kettle sours, a beer I'm unlikely to come back to.

473 mL can from the LCBO; no packaging date and served barely chilled.

Pours hazy salmon-pink, capped off with two fingers of soapy, foamy white head that gradually settles off. It lingers for five minutes or so, eventually whittled down to a thin collar and filmy cap, with a light speckling of spotty lace sprayed about in the process. It smells mostly of raspberry and lemon yogurt, with additional suggestions of lime, orange, grapefruit, pineapple juice and wheaty grains.

A quality sour - the label lists four fruits, with each one of them being easily discerned at some point within the sip. Raspberry flesh, lemon and lactose sweetness at first, with orange juice, grapefruit and pineapple joining the fray soon thereafter. Hints of pineapple juice, lime and more raspberry - both the juice and a touch of the seed - lead into a tart finish and aftertaste with mild lactic acidity, lime-ade and raspberry yogurt. Medium in body; feels a little fluffy on the palate, with moderate carbonation that froths up in the mouth. Moderately drinkable - one can is about right, as I don't think I could drink this one after another.

Final Grade: 4.17, an A-. Collective Arts' Rainbow Sherbet Sour isn't exactly a worldbeater, but I absolutely enjoyed my glass from start to finish. Its balance of sour and sweet flavours was quite appealing to me: the acidity is obviously pronounced, but the undercurrent of lactose/fruit sweetness serves as a wonderful counterpoint. A satisfying beer to drink - like nearly all of this brewery's sours, it's better than many Ontario equivalents and can be considered a safe pick-up for anyone who enjoys milkshake sours, raspberry sours, citrus sours, etc.