Casey Family Preserves - Sweet Blend
Casey Brewing & Blending and Barrel Cellar
- From:
- Casey Brewing & Blending and Barrel Cellar
- Colorado, United States
- Style:
- Belgian Saison
- ABV:
- 6%
- Score:
- +3 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 4.26 | pDev: 3.76%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Aug 05, 2019
- Added:
- Sep 16, 2017
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by Curt3:
Rated by Curt3 from Ohio
4.35/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Sep 16, 2017
4.35/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Sep 16, 2017
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Texas
3.94/5 rDev -7.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.94/5 rDev -7.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
BOTTLE: Purchased at Casey earlier this year after a requisite tour. Sweet blend bottled 3/2/17. 750ml format. Brown glass. Hood and wire cap covers the cork. Simple white label.
6% ABV. "Ale aged in oak barrels with cherries."
Served chilled into a teku and allowed to come to temperature over the course of consumption.
HEAD: Pink, which stands out. Creamy and frothy, playing neatly into its soft appearance. ~3-4 minute retention. ~3cm height. Leaves no lacing as it recedes.
BODY: Dark deep sanguine red. Filtered judging by its clarity. No yeast/lees are visible within.
Appears naturally carbonated. Looks true to style for a kriek.
AROMA: Tart cherry with evident jammy sweetness. Not medicinal or cough syrup-redolent at all. Malt presence is quite neutral, bending to the whims of the cherries.
Promises a powdery refreshing cherry ale with nice depth of flavour. Sourness seems mild judging by the aroma - ~3/10 in terms of intensity - and it lacks any overt oak barrel-derived aromatics.
No obvious hoppy or yeasty aromatics.
TASTE & TEXTURE: Marvelous smacky tartness is present, accentuating the sweet and sour cherries wonderfully. Mild acidity coaxes out the cherry's sourness nicely without repressing the jammy sweetness.
Powdery and refreshing with perfect carbonation (probably from bottle conditioning). Cherry preserves certainly come to mind when drinking this fine ale, but I am missing any character from the oak barrel; this lacks barrel vanillin, barrel sugars, toasty white oak, and anything else one might look for (woody tannins, coconut) in an oak barrel aged beer.
Evocative of powdered sugar doused cherries. Very pleasant and approachable, with a teasing harmony of sweetness, sourness, tartness, and acidity. Sourness is mild - ~3-4/10 in terms of intensity - and I'd bet on bacteria alone as its source (lactobacillus, yes, but also pediococcus). I don't get any brettanomyces lambicus funkiness or anything.
No barnyard notes here. No overt hoppy notes. Malt backbone isn't overt, so I suspect 2-row pale malt and maybe Belgian pale or pils malt was used for its/their neutrality.
Light-bodied. Not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, harsh, rough, or scratchy. Soft and approachable. A powdery pillow of a mouthfeel.
Boasts superb depth of flavour. The way the twangy acidity brings out the best in the cherries is wonderful, and the interplay between jammy sweet and tangy tart keeps the drinker guessing.
OVERALL: It's a remarkably well balanced gestalt whole of a beer, exceeding the sum of its parts. Incredible work from one of Colorado's best breweries. A beer that invites comparisons to fine wines. I suspect it would age well up to about the 3 year mark, but there's no reason not to drink it upon purchase. I'm happy I cracked this open alone if only out of greed, but having a whole 750ml at my disposal won't stop me from savoring each sip. It's not easy to stand out with a tart cherry ale in even the local Colorado market (New Belgium, Avery, Odell, and Crooked Stave are tough competition), but this manages the feat easily and could hold its own against most traditional Belgian krieks. Undoubtedly one of the best beers brewed in Colorado, and a testament to the quality and reputation of Casey Brewing & Blending. A must-try for the discerning drinker.
A- (4.12) / EXCELLENT
***
12/28/19 bottle:
Bottled 3/3/17.
Pours no head.
Drinks acidic and vinegary, hitting on heavy acetic acid along with aceobacter bacteria, pedicoccus, and brettanomyces. Oak is too repressed in my opinion, barely offering much in the way of overt flavour.
Cherries are indeed sweet but also have a tartness.
It's a bit thin but it drinks easily. It remains a complex brew but the cherries seem to have faded and it's not as jammy as I remembered it. I'd like to see them commit more to the cherries and bacteria while aging in a more interesting/complementary barrel (e.g. Napa Cabernet Sauvignon) to get a more jammy oaky flavour profile.
Remains a worthwhile sour after aging almost 3 years, but it did drink better fresh and I wouldn't advise aging this one based on my experience.
B / GOOD
Dec 30, 20176% ABV. "Ale aged in oak barrels with cherries."
Served chilled into a teku and allowed to come to temperature over the course of consumption.
HEAD: Pink, which stands out. Creamy and frothy, playing neatly into its soft appearance. ~3-4 minute retention. ~3cm height. Leaves no lacing as it recedes.
BODY: Dark deep sanguine red. Filtered judging by its clarity. No yeast/lees are visible within.
Appears naturally carbonated. Looks true to style for a kriek.
AROMA: Tart cherry with evident jammy sweetness. Not medicinal or cough syrup-redolent at all. Malt presence is quite neutral, bending to the whims of the cherries.
Promises a powdery refreshing cherry ale with nice depth of flavour. Sourness seems mild judging by the aroma - ~3/10 in terms of intensity - and it lacks any overt oak barrel-derived aromatics.
No obvious hoppy or yeasty aromatics.
TASTE & TEXTURE: Marvelous smacky tartness is present, accentuating the sweet and sour cherries wonderfully. Mild acidity coaxes out the cherry's sourness nicely without repressing the jammy sweetness.
Powdery and refreshing with perfect carbonation (probably from bottle conditioning). Cherry preserves certainly come to mind when drinking this fine ale, but I am missing any character from the oak barrel; this lacks barrel vanillin, barrel sugars, toasty white oak, and anything else one might look for (woody tannins, coconut) in an oak barrel aged beer.
Evocative of powdered sugar doused cherries. Very pleasant and approachable, with a teasing harmony of sweetness, sourness, tartness, and acidity. Sourness is mild - ~3-4/10 in terms of intensity - and I'd bet on bacteria alone as its source (lactobacillus, yes, but also pediococcus). I don't get any brettanomyces lambicus funkiness or anything.
No barnyard notes here. No overt hoppy notes. Malt backbone isn't overt, so I suspect 2-row pale malt and maybe Belgian pale or pils malt was used for its/their neutrality.
Light-bodied. Not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, harsh, rough, or scratchy. Soft and approachable. A powdery pillow of a mouthfeel.
Boasts superb depth of flavour. The way the twangy acidity brings out the best in the cherries is wonderful, and the interplay between jammy sweet and tangy tart keeps the drinker guessing.
OVERALL: It's a remarkably well balanced gestalt whole of a beer, exceeding the sum of its parts. Incredible work from one of Colorado's best breweries. A beer that invites comparisons to fine wines. I suspect it would age well up to about the 3 year mark, but there's no reason not to drink it upon purchase. I'm happy I cracked this open alone if only out of greed, but having a whole 750ml at my disposal won't stop me from savoring each sip. It's not easy to stand out with a tart cherry ale in even the local Colorado market (New Belgium, Avery, Odell, and Crooked Stave are tough competition), but this manages the feat easily and could hold its own against most traditional Belgian krieks. Undoubtedly one of the best beers brewed in Colorado, and a testament to the quality and reputation of Casey Brewing & Blending. A must-try for the discerning drinker.
A- (4.12) / EXCELLENT
***
12/28/19 bottle:
Bottled 3/3/17.
Pours no head.
Drinks acidic and vinegary, hitting on heavy acetic acid along with aceobacter bacteria, pedicoccus, and brettanomyces. Oak is too repressed in my opinion, barely offering much in the way of overt flavour.
Cherries are indeed sweet but also have a tartness.
It's a bit thin but it drinks easily. It remains a complex brew but the cherries seem to have faded and it's not as jammy as I remembered it. I'd like to see them commit more to the cherries and bacteria while aging in a more interesting/complementary barrel (e.g. Napa Cabernet Sauvignon) to get a more jammy oaky flavour profile.
Remains a worthwhile sour after aging almost 3 years, but it did drink better fresh and I wouldn't advise aging this one based on my experience.
B / GOOD
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