There Are Rules
The Rare Barrel

A: Poured into a Duvel tulip to a deep orange beer with a slight pink hue. the beer is topped by a small white head which fades quickly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of light sourness and oak but there's a ton of juicy fruit to sniff through with notes of peaches, apricots and raspberries
T: Taste is juicy peaches, apricots and raspberries along with a pleasant amount of building sourness. there's also a touch of oak along with a bit of funk. On the swallow there's more sourness along with all those great peach, apricot, and raspberry flavors.
M: This beer has a mouthfeel which sits right around medium with a slightly syrupy feel. Carbonation is on the lower side for a sour but it's still somewhat effervescent while the beer has a drying finish due to the acidity.
O: Overall this is a really nice beer. The flavors and complexity are really good and all the juicy fruit notes help to keep the sourness from the beer on the more balanced side. I'm happy to see that this one is still around as it's well worth keeping on hand.

Thanks to eyebereej for sending this one! Reviewed from (very) long-standing notes. Poured from the waxed 750mL bottle into an El Catador Barrel-Aged glass. 2016 bottling, consumed 8/17/17.

A: Hazy gold with a quite a bit of visible carbonation. Despite the active bubbles, only a minimum of white head shows up and quickly fades to foam, then disappears.

S: Lactic tart, stone fruit and cheesy, feet-y funk. Oak and citric acid. It smells to me like the souring is primarily Pediococcus and Lactobacillus - I'm not getting a Brettanomyces presence particularly. Some light cracker malts. Not a huge nose, but reasonably complex and certainly appealing.

T: Surprising on first sip – a mix of lactic and acetic sourness up front. Apricots and stone fruitiness with a fairly puckering sour flavor. Light oak tannins help to smooth things out a bit, as does the mildly sweet cracker malt body. Modest cheesy funk again – I still think Pedio and Lacto mostly. The acetic aspect, though never strongly vinegary, swells up near the end with more puckering stone fruit. Maybe only in licking the lips after the swallow do I get even a hint of raspberry here.

M: A light body, with a reasonable amount - but not a ton - of carbonation sensation. Alcohol is noticeably present but integrated.

O: This sure smelled better to me than it tasted, but was not unpleasant on either count for sure. Good, but not my favorite offering from Rare Barrel.

 

2016 bottle into snifter.

A: Pours a clear light golden/pale orange color with an active white head that quickly fizzed away into nothing.
S: Juicy peach and tannic/tart apricot skins upon first impression, followed by both tart and sweet raspberry and a musty earth.
T: Follows the nose with notes of bright and acidic fruit balanced by sweet fruit juice. There’s an nice bramble/earthy quality throughout. Finish is full of candy peach rings, apricot purée, and raspberry seeds. Aftertaste is drying and clean. There's a peach skin quality to the mouthfeel.
M: Clean and dry, with clean biting acid that’s short lived and easy enough to drink. Medium body, bright fluffy carbonation, soft mouthfeel.
O: Great blend of fruit flavors with no one aspect dominating. Acid is one dimensional and straightforward. Nice musty earthy quality.

Had this back at the tap takeover thing between Societe, Rare Barrel and the Bruery that occured at Rare Barrel. The color of this is around light amber/auburn, it has a thin 1/4" off white head. Plenty of those lactic sour notes in it, mild amount of oak, much like most of their beers, it seems pretty clean and devoid of funky brett notes.

Taste is that usual 7.5 range of sourness on the 10 pt scale, again, like the nose, the taste is pretty clean and without a lot of those spontaneous like bugs as opposed to a cultured innoculation or whatnot. I would say the apricot and raspberry seem to be the most prominent of the fruits used. I guess the peach and its softness get pushed around here.

Its a good beer, I think I like the map sun/moon ones more, the straight apricot fire. I guess the difficult question is, would I pay about $25 for a bottle of this? Even though its a very good beer, I think there are even better ones that can be found for almost $10 cheaper. But I would definitely buy another pour of this (was only $6) at the rate of exchange I paid that evening.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours golden yellow / amber with small white heads disappears quickly.
Aroma has raspberries, apricots, peach, hay, little funk, oak.
Taste is fruit bomb, dominated by raspberries, apricots, sour lemons, hay, oak, oily, little funk.

 

 

 

 

 

For this one alone I wish I lived in the distribution footprint of The Rare Barrel. I'm usually scared away by wild ales, but this one was top notch. Very light, easy to drink, not over-powering, and can actually taste the fruits. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

A thin wisp of beige foam quits quickly to leave a bare cap atop a peach/amber colored, thickish liquid.

Full aroma featuring oak and peach with rounded tart, earthy funk, sharper tart notes, and lightest sweet berry to make this a delectable and alluring aroma.

Full flavored, with a good deal more sharp tart than expected, but it is balanced perfectly with peach and berry notes, and carry that into an end of sip that is juicy, slightly citrus, puckering, and delcious. Balanced and bright taste that rocks. The oak notes are light and not tannic, earthy and slightly spicy funk accompanies well, and the addition of these notes gives a complexity that increases as the beer warms.

Med. viscosity, low carb., killer finish, tart that never bites but is dominant and welcoming, and natural tasting fruit flavors in a refreshing wild ale that is magnificent.

Really outstanding wild ale, no artificial fruit or carbonic notes in this baby, and no over the top funk either. Delectable and highly recommended.

 

 

Bottle.

A: Raspberry tartness, coupled with moderately light apricots and very faint peaches, with a slight funk and sourness.

A: Deep orange color, opaque, with a mostly uniform white head with adequate retention.

T: Lots of raspberries upfront, followed by ripe apricots and moderate peach flavors that give way to a moderate zippy sourness and dry finish.

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation and a bright acidity.

O: Very tasty; the beer has a great raspberry, apricot and peach flavor that contrasts well with the sourness and light oak character.