Rhine Cabal
Southern Tier Brewing Company

ollowing the overwhelming response to the limited release of Four Headed Wooly Mammoth, a massive 11% ABV Belgian Quad, Southern Tier’s second Cellar Vault offering is taking a different approach. This 5.5% ABV Sour Ale is crisp, tart and reminiscent of the fine Riesling wines coming from the Finger Lakes region in New York. For this hybrid brew, the company sourced Riesling grape juice from Ventosa Vineyards Estate Winery in Geneva, NY on the northern tip of Seneca Lake, the largest of central NY’s Finger Lakes.

The addition of Riesling grape juice to this mouth-puckeringly sour ale adds sweet grape flavors and a crisp finish to this tart, low-bitterness brew. Rhine Cabal drinks like a beer-wine hybrid as its smooth, malty backbone provides a fine, lacey head while the grape addition provides a crisp, fruity finish and a bump in ABV. Wafting this pale straw colored brew will hit your nose with enticingly funky and grassy notes. Sour and sweet combine with just the right amount of tanginess from a long Lactobacillus souring. Mild, tangy fruitiness and slightly warming alcohol leave your taste buds wanting more.

Brewer Geoff Burgess, who originally proposed the beer and the partnership with Ventosa Estate posits, “We wanted to work with some of the greats in winemaking, and Ventosa’s wine maker Jenna LaVita are producing top-class Riesling right here in New York State.”