Epicurean Series - Cherries Jubilee
Urban Artifact

2022 vintage.
16oz can at share. Pinkish pour, small airy white head. Fruity aroma, cherries, mld savory notes. Taste is cherries, light cinnmaon with a mild pucker.

16 ounce can, canned on 04/15/22. Served in a chalice, the beer pours a reddish/orange color with about an inch or so off-white head. Head retention and lacing are both good. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like cherries, cinnamon, vanilla and some earthiness. The taste is similar to the aroma, but there's also some sweet cherry candy (Jolly Rancher like), citrus and bready malt flavors noticeable too. Kinda tastes like a cherry pie, and gets sweeter tasting as it warms. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's coating and a bit sticky with a moderate amount of carbonation. I liked this brew, certainly worth trying if you get the chance!

 

 

Blurring the lines that typically separate beverage from food, Urban Artifact takes their epicurean arts to the world of cherry pie. Chocked full of montmorency cherries and balanced with milk sugars, vanilla and cinnamon and suddenly this beer is built for dessert.

Cherries Jubilee gets going with a soft and foggy maroon and crimson hue while a cottony froth quickly rises and then falls. As the bubbles pop, the nose is enlivened by the undeniable scent of tart red cherries and an underlying scent of white wine, cider, a hint of cinnamon and a general funky freshness. Scant sweetness glosses the tongue with a light coat of hard candy, fruit glaze and a hint of taffy.

As the acidity washes the middle palate, anything resembling sweet or malty are quickly ushered away and the high flavors of those montmorency cherries and all their branch-ripe, tangy, robust glory. Sharing attributes with red berries, plum and grape, the cherry additions are soon met with the acute sourness of dry white wines, white grape, crabapple, lime, lemon and gooseberry before finishing with a warming pep of cinnamon spice for a glimpse into cherry pies.

Light, crisp, clean and bracingly tart, any balance from milk sugars or vanilla are very low and largely never seem to make a show of themselves. The sour ale finishes puckeringly sour with a refreshing short aftertaste of peppery sourness and soft echoes of sourdough and cherry.

I don't like sours but the Oswego Contingent that I was with were willing to stop at Urban Artifact to try it. This one was berry red in color with no head and no lace. There was sour tart fruit in both the smell and taste. The aftertaste lead to a subtle spice that made this sour interesting. The mouthfeel was medium in body with essentially zero carbonation. Overall its fine....just not for me.

Looks like they're doing this one again, love the updated can art but that's not the most important thing, this could be a smidge better probably but its pretty damn excellent so far. Real close to cherry pie, really like this place's sours

 

16 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 12/13/2019. Pours lightly hazy ruby red/orange color with a small fairly dense light pink head with poor retention, that reduces to nothing pretty quickly. Minimal spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big sour/tart/tangy red cherries, fruit skin/pits, lemon, lime, peach, pear, green apple, red grape/wine, berries, hay, straw, grass, wheat, and white bread; with light notes of vanilla, cinnamon, lacto funk, and yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of cherries, fruity/acidic yeast, and pale/wheat malt notes; with big strength. Taste of big sour/tart/tangy red cherries, fruit skin/pits, lemon, lime, peach, pear, green apple, red grape/wine, berries, hay, straw, grass, wheat, and white bread; with light notes of vanilla, cinnamon, lacto funk, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tart/sourness, fruit tang, and light spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of sour/tart/tangy red cherries, fruit skin/pits, lemon, lime, peach, pear, green apple, red grape/wine, berries, hay, straw, grass, wheat, white bread, lacto funk, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of cherries, fruity/acidic yeast, and pale/wheat malt flavors; with an awesome malt/sour/tart/tangy balance, and no puckering flavors after the finish. Fairly crisp finishing. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering sour/tart/tangy. Medium-plus carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/grainy, and acidic/tangy/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 7%. Overall this is an awesome fruited sour. All around awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of cherries, fruity/acidic yeast, and pale/wheat malt flavors; very smooth and fairly crisp/refreshing to drink with the modestly acidic/tangy/tannic/drying finish; not overly lactic. Awesomely balanced big juicy/jammy cherries and lacto complexity; with a solid lactose and wheat/malt backbone. Minimal residual sweetness with crisp acidic/tangy dryness. Barely any cinnamon or vanilla as advertised, but on point with their other fruited kettle sours! A very enjoyable offering, and impressive style example as expected of the brewery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cinnamon and vanilla rise to meet the cherries. A very solid beer. Nothing off about it.

 

 

Ale with Balaton cherries, vanilla beans, cinnamon, and lactose. Poured from a can into an Urban Artifact Thoroughbred glass. The pour is quite hazy and very red in color with a thin head that has average retention for a sour. Cherries and vanilla on the nose with the unmistakable sour-apple note of a wild beer behind it. A faint hint of cinnamon as well.

Light body with a firm feel and a pleasant fruity-tart flavor that follows the nose well. Lots of cherries up front along with a faint cracker-like graininess that adds a little sweetness. Cherries persist across the palate and are met by a whiff of vanilla and a little earthy cinnamon on the finish. It's difficult to tell whether the tartness is coming from the cherries or from the beer itself. No matter. It's really good all the same.

Sigh - what can you say? My favorite brewer of sour beers doing what they do best - marrying wildly-fermented beers with gobs and gobs of fruit. The more new beers I try from UA, the more I am impressed by them.