Betelgeuse Rosé Sour
Ethereal Brewing

In what's one of the more trendy attempts at craft beer, the rosé sour ale brings a fruity but tart, characterful but not challenging, edgy but comfortable taste in much the same way that true rosé wine brings to the wine scene. Ethereal Brewing does just this and to pin point perfection.

Betelgeuse pours with a true rosy color and housed in a bright and geusy clarity. As a light a fluffy head mounts on top, the scent leads with sour candies, cider, dough and yes.. rosé wine. With a soft brine building, a faint whiff of rice wine vinegar and weathered cork emerges just ahead of a crisp malty impression of sourdough, taffy, hard candy and wafer.

But once the malt sweetness wears off, the sourness comes out from behind the grains and plays a sharp and straight forward tune on the middle palate. Dry french cider, sparkling rosé wine, cranberry, gooseberry, passionfruit, kiwi and yuzu fruit flavors leap out with their tangy, succulent and citrusy, tropical tang, leaving out much of the sweetness that's normally associated with the fruit. A brisk and briny late palate brings a soft suggestion of earthiness with wheat germ and leather.

Light, crisp and highly refreshing, Betelgeuse is a beer that's friendly for those becoming accustomed to sour ale or the wine drinker with an open mind and palate. A short aftertaste of cider and cranberry stops just shy of a slightly longer linger of sourdough and peppery sourness that cleanses the palate with ease and ensures optimum drinkability.