Dizzy Vicar
Hermit Thrush Brewery

 

 

 

 

Decent fizzy head, hazy auburn color.

Nose fruity, plums and some berry fruit, fig, toffee candy notes, sour mild funk and hints of barrel vanilla oak

Taste fair sourness, tart funk with a little booze, fruity esters, sour fig plum, tart funk sticky flemmy, fair acidity, little whisky oak barrel

Mouth is med bod, bright carbonation, acidity, sticky and flemmy

Pretty much a soured Belgian dubbel, which is not necessarily a good thing, but wasn't too bad here.

 

Poured into a Sierra Nevada Spiegelau glass. No freshness date.

A- Pours a reddish dark amber color with a 3/4 inch light tan head that retains well before becoming a thick ring around the edge of the glass and a mostly full sheet of surface foam. Semi-resilient lacing leaves large clots behind.

S- Nice lactic acid aroma that's slightly musty and has the oak giving off a small note of vanilla.

T- Very balanced with the sourness brushing up against the malt with ease. Again, the oak provides an extra piece of character as the lactic acid sinks in and dries up the palate. ABV is decently hidden.

M- Medium-high pucker factor with medium carbonation and a body leaning toward the lighter side.

O- An interesting concoction of flavors for sure. It's tilted toward the higher end of the sourness spectrum which is fine, but I'd like some funk character to go along with it. Still, decently drinkable and a sure quick fix for all the sour-heads out there.

Pours a slightly hazy brown, producing a one finger cream colored head with a moderate pour. Head dissipates quickly, leaving no lacing on the glass. Noticeably effervescent. Smells predominantly of malts, lemon, jasmine, saffron and apples. Taste is SOUR! with hints of apple peel, sour cherry, kombucha, roasted malts. Faint biley taste on the finish, which I'm not a huge fan of. Nice, smooth, almost slippery, mouthfeel though. Definitely not one of Hermit Thrush's finest, but (I believe) it is one of their best value beers, considering ABV vs price. Not a giveaway, regardless.

 

One of the best sours I have had. Tart around the edge of the tongue. Well balanced.

 

Never heard much buzz about Hermit Thrush. The VT beer scene is pretty stacked, after all, and so tons of middle of the road places go without much mention.

On tap at Three Penny in Montpellier.

Pours dark, reddish brown with a small little wisp of a head. Smells aggressive but well-rounded, with mild caramel and alcohol against very tart cherries.

Tastes even more complex and rounded, exceptionally well-balanced for a beer of its intensity. Tart cherries and berries up front, moving into a medium-sour middle where the sourness is balanced wonderfully by more traditional dubbel nodes as well as some biscuits and caramel. Ends spectacular, with Belgian yeast and some light nodes of peat snuffing out the last vestiges of sourness and ending things on a very dry note.

The best beer I've had in a long while.

 

 

on draft at the brewery tasting room in Brattleboro. strong amber colored Belgian style ale. the Belgian style yeast character is there, but is restrained. a touch of dark malt flavors.