Anachronism: Cherry
Transient Artisan Ales

Rather murky in the glass, along with a bunch of floaties. Rather unattractive ale, even for the style.

Lovely nose, with an emphasis on funk, oak, vinegar-like sour, tannins, citric acid, and only a hint of the cherries.

Extremely sour on the palate - extremely! The most sour wild ale I've had in ages. After the initial punch of sourness to the palate - and the second, third, and fourth punches - a nice funk settles in, wrapped in oak and tannins. Tart cherries add to the overall sourness, but aren't particularly noticeable until the finish.

If you're looking for a wild ale with tons of sour character, this one is a can't miss.

Anachronism: Cherry, it's amazing! Great smell, taste, feel, look. Everything was incredible! You gotta try it if your a fan of sours, its sooo good! Def get 1 or 2

375ml bottle; bottled in 2017. Kept in cool basement until refrigerated. Opened 1/30/2020 and it's still great. Pours a cloudy pink. Great cherry taste. Excellent sour.

 

"Batch 2, Barreled 2017". Drank 7/6/19 @ the Yarchives.

Cloudy pink appearance.

A slow pour yielded a minimal off-white head; no lace.

Tart cherry, strawberry, sea salt & faint barnyard funk notes in the nose.

Medium thin mouthfeel.

Tart cherry & sweet strawberry flavors up front; strong sea salt & faint honeyed wheat notes on the finish.

Flavorful, but the sea salt notes pushed this towards gose territory; good, but not as balanced as I'd prefer.

Medium acidity, sweet and sour cherry, light funk, oak tannin, pie crust in aroma

Very impressive beer from Transient. If the acidity was slightly dialed back this would be outstanding

Batch 2 bottle. Soft and beautiful faded ruby pour with a solid ring of white foam and lacing. Smell has sweet cherry bubblegum in with lambic like yeast, oak, apple, lemon, vinegar, lacto, hay, funk, grape must, and peach. Taste is what I wanted coolship red to be, has great american wild ale fruit up front with lacto, sour and sweet cherry, citrus, orchard fruit, dried dark fruit, and plenty of oak, but then has lambic style flowers, hay, chewy funk, yeast, vinegar, and minerals. Great complexity while not overwhelming the palate. Feel is the best lambic body I have had outside of belgium, dry, tart, crisp, slightly sugary, and funky. Fantastic beer that integrates the new world and old world very well!

375ml cork and caged bottle, batch 2, barreled 2017. Snifter glass.

Medium ruby grapefruit red body, one finger white head, good retention, not much lacing. Smell is cherry skin, moderate acetic acidity, mild oak, touch of leather, not much lemon, more cherry flesh. Mild funk. Flavour follows- has a nice bright vinegary tartness that is more driven by cherry. Not much Brett, just a little and more than enough to add complexity and announce itself without being dominant. Mild wet oak, a bit of leather and more cherry skin on the finish. Medium bodied, good carbonation, feels fairly acetic in the stomach even if not on the palate. Solid AWA, fairly balanced with a big cherry quotient but without that hair styling product smell that some heavily fruited cherry wilds can have.

 

375 ml bottle into tulip glass, 2016 vintage. Pours slightly hazy/cloudy reddish/pinkish golden/orange/amber color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy light pink head with poor retention, that reduces to nothing pretty quickly. No lacing, some clinging bubbles and streaming carbonation. Aromas of big sour/tart/tangy red/black cherries, fruit skin/pits, lemon, lime, orange, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red/green apple, red grape/wine, oak, peppercorn, hay, straw, grass, wheat, cracker, and white bread; with lighter notes of leathery/musty/lacto funk, red wine vinegar, and yeast/oak earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of cherries, fruity/funky/acidic/spicy yeast, oak barrels, and moderate pale/wheat malt notes; with big strength. Taste of huge sour/tart/tangy red/black cherries, fruit skin/pits, lemon, lime, orange, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red/green apple, red grape/wine, oak, peppercorn, hay, straw, grass, wheat, cracker, and white bread; with lighter notes of leathery/musty/lacto funk, red wine vinegar, and yeast/oak earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness, fruit tang, and Brett/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of tart/tangy cherries, fruit skin/pits, lemon, lime, orange, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red/green apple, red grape/wine, oak, peppercorn, hay, straw, grass, wheat, cracker, white bread light funk/vinegar, and yeast/oat earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of cherries, fruity/funky/acidic/spicy yeast, oak barrels, and moderate pale/wheat malt flavors; with a fantastic malt/tartness and tangy fruit balance; with zero puckering/astringent flavors after the finish. Moderately crisp/clean finishing. Moderate increasing dryness from lingering tartness, tangy fruit, and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth and moderately grainy/acidic/tangy/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is fantastic. Zero warming alcohol for 6%. Overall this is an amazing fruited sour/wild ale! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of cherries, fruity/funky/acidic/spicy yeast, oak barrels, and moderate pale/wheat malt flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink with the modestly acidic/tangy/tannic/drying finish; not overly lactic. Amazing balance of huge juicy/jammy cherries and Brett/Bacteria complexity; with great oak presence and pale/wheat malt backbone against acidity. Minimal residual sweetness with crisp acidic/tangy dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and top tier quality style example. Best sour I've had from them so far.

 

I've had a fair number of Transient beers, but leaning more towards the dark or hazy side of the spectrum - I suspect Anachronism is my first experience with Transient sours. I think my surprise about this beer stems from the fact that it is a coolship cherry, and when it comes to cherry wilds or lambics/krieks - I'm just not all that wild about them. Cherry tends to be a very polarizing adjunct for me - that cough syrup quality can be so cloying and medicinal that I can only drink it in very small quantities.

This beer does not exhibit that quality. Anachronism is, in fact, quite tart and dry - there's a pronounced oak presence which really accentuates that tartness. Before I get ahead of myself, the nose is terrific as well - light, sour cherries with just a bit of cinnamon. The mouth feel is, as noted, fairly dry, and the tartness imparts a very nice pucker to the mouth. The finish lingers just a bit, but that dryness makes it fairly clean. Others might disagree, but the sourness is not overwhelming - it's just this side of the very pleasant spectrum, not quite crossing over to that cheek spasming, teeth-aching point. I actually cherish those as well. My palate is stupid, I know.

TL;DR. Terrific beer!

2016 vintage poured from a 375ml cork & cage bottle into a Transient Teku. This is my first Anachronism beer (I missed the original non fruited release) & what I have come to expect from Transient fruited sours - a well balanced beer that's fruit forward & not overpoweringly sour.

I've enjoyed several bottles of Just Passing Through from Transient, which is their Oak Aged Sour Golden Ale with Michigan Cherries. This is very similar to me, although this is a 100% spontaneous beer. Very good, but I was expecting a bit more complexity & for it not to remind me so exactly of Just Passing Through. I'm glad I have a few to cellar to see how they develop.

Looks very nice with lacing that sticks and a soft red color. The smell is tart and funky and makes me excited I put down the cash. I think I paid $17 for the 375ml bottle, so it’s expensive. The taste is as good as I was hoping. The cherry is prominent as I would expect. The sour is there, but not overpowering. It’s worth the price!

I just opened a bottle of batch two (the review above is for batch 1 written in June '18.) The past review stands for the new batch as well. The cherry adjunct is perfect and I love the tartness level. If this were half the price, I'd buy a case of it and save them, but at the $18/bottle rate, it's hard to justify buying more than 1 a year.