Soursmith Apple
Arclight Brewing Company

750 ml bottle into tulip glass, 2019 vintage. Pours slightly hazy deep golden amber color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy off white head with solid retention, that reduces to a minimal spotty lace cap that lingers. Minimal lacing, some linging bubbles and streaming carbonation. Aromas of big juicy/sour/tart/tangy red/green apples, fruit peel, lemon, lime, orange, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, mango, melon, white grape/wine, hay, straw, grass, honey, wheat, and white bread dough; with lighter notes of oak, vanilla, pepper, leathery/musty/lacto funk, and yeast/oak earthiness. Slight plastic/vinegar in the aromas at first, but goes away as it warmed. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of fruity/funky/acidic yeast, apples, oak, and bready malt notes; with big strength. Taste of huge juicy/sour/tart/tangy red/green apples, fruit peel, lemon, lime, orange, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, mango, melon, white grape/wine, hay, straw, grass, honey, wheat, and white bread dough; with lighter notes of oak, vanilla, pepper, leathery/musty/lacto funk, and yeast/oak earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tart/sourness, fruit tang, and light tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of sour/tart/tangy red/green apples, fruit peel, lemon, lime, orange, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, mango, melon, white grape/wine, hay, straw, grass, honey, wheat, white bread dough, oak, vanilla, pepper, leathery/musty/lacto funk, and yeast/oak earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/funky/acidic yeast, apples, oak, and bready malt flavors; with a fantastic malt/tart/sour/tangy balance; and zero puckering flavors after the finish. Fairly crisp/clean finishing. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering sour/tart/tangy and carbonation. Medium-plus carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/grainy/acidic/tangy, and lightly tannic balanced mouthfeel that is fantastic. Zero warming alcohol for 6%. Overall this is an amazing fruited sour ale. All around amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/funky/acidic yeast, apples, oak, and bready malt flavors; very smooth and fairly crisp/clean/refreshing to drink with the mellowly acidic/tangy/drying finish; not overly lactic. Amazing balance of apples, Brett/Bacteria, and oak presence/integration; with a nice size wheat/malt backbone against acidity. Mild residual sweetness with crisp dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and yop tier style example as expected of the brewery. Unique as it is much lower in ABV than most of the series, but still has a nice malt backbone for the style. The Brett presence is fairly tame, but that's OK.

A hue between copper and amber in the partially clear body with a slight white ring. Smells of apple, apple cider vinegar, and sour green apple candy. Apple anyone? Taste has a lot of apple too, but also has some blue cotton candy and rice krispie treat within the supporting malt, adheres to the sour apple in a sweet way. Clearly not a cider, but also clearly apple flavored. Feel is sour, sweet, and sneaky malty.

Been searching for the answer to the question "what is an apple beer, if not cider?"- and now I found it! Wow, what a brew. Has that patented Soursmith base, sticky rock candy. a tart pucker that very few can achieve. i've often found the apple flavors lacking when i try an apple beer, but this is a pronounced, pithy, syrupy sour apple- not nearly as crisp or dry as you might expect of cider. looks like a red sour apple, tastes like a red sour apple. somehow has alcohol in there.