One Key - Double Fruited Funky Blender
Casey Brewing & Blending and Barrel Cellar

This is for the Casey One Key Double Blender Apricot & Nectarine…

Pours a crystal clear light gold color with a thin finger of gray-hued off-white head that quickly settles into a wisp and soupy crown.

Sour aroma with vinegar notes, light nectarine, funk and wood.

Very tart and acidic tasting, still with nice apricot and nectarine notes even at this unknown age. Green apple shows, too. Very distant funk and wood (or possibly fruit pit).

Lightly syrupy feel with very tight carbonation.

A really nicely made beer. A touch acidic, but appropriate to style.

750ml bottle, Perfection/Red Haven, bottled 08/27/2018, poured into a stemless wine glass.

The beer pours a very cloudy and turbid orange color, amber and golden hues with a fizzy white head that offers no meaningful retention nor lacing. The aroma is very nice, loads of soft stone fruits, peaches and apricots with a nice floral quality, modest citrus, light oak, very funk and tart, not overly bacterial with a nice earthy nuttiness from the pitted fruits. The flavors are quite sour, lots of funk and bacteria, strong peach and apricot flesh, somewhat juicy and feels fresh, lightly floral, a bit of citrus, chewy oak and earthy peach pit with a strong sour fruit finish. The mouthfeel is good, lively medium body, coating, dry, tart and with a big sour snap at the finish.

Verdict: A nice expression of fruit from Casey, but this beer is incredibly sour and really walks the fine line between a pleasant experience and an exhausting one, and for the most part manages to safely walk in this space. The fruit is just such a reward and it's so cleanly and well presented that this makes for a very good beer.

Poured from a 750mL corked bottle into a Casey oversize wine glass.

Pours a very hazy, pulpy cider-orange body with a small fizzy head that reduces quickly.

Aromas are indeed funky and potent. Over ripe stone fruits shine, this smells fantastic like a freshly squeezed peach thats sat in the sun for a few minutes. Mango, pulpy orange juice aromas.

On the tongue it’s on the sharp side - pretty sour but not overbearing, the funky fruit flavors sit behind citric acidity that lingers on the tongue for a while. Very dry, all of the sugars have fermented out of this and left behind wonderful stone fruit flavors mixed with light oak and maybe white wine. Normal carbonation; medium body.

I enjoyed this over a couple hours, as it warmed the fruit came through more. Overall delicious if you like sours.

This one pours a slightly hazy golden yellow, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells extremely and utterly sour, with a lemon juice, citrus, with lots of sour apricot, and a bit of very sour white wine type flavors.

The One Key series is certainly interesting, but they are just much too sour most of the time. The fruit is done really, with loads of stone fruit, mainly apricot. There's an overwhelming sour wine barrel character, with lemon rind and lemon juice, along with just a touch of oak.

This doesn't get into enamel-stripping territory, luckily, but it's certainly a slow sipper due to the intensity of the acidiy. It's lightly carbonated, just a soft spark on the back end.

This isn't really my favorite series from Casey - I'm not sure why they get so sour (too much fruit? The culture gets out of control with that much fruit to eat up?). It's still a very intriguing beer, but not one I'd really seek out personally.

 

 

 

This opaque dark maize brew looks like a New England IPA, with a short bubbly white head that has little retention.

This blend of One Key delivers an excellent peachy funk that's nicely sour and medium of body. The effervescence lifts up some sticky, sweaty apricots as the acidity becomes a little more assertive than the first version of this wonderful beer.