Epicurean Series 2020 - Stone Fruit Compote a la mode
Urban Artifact

 

 

*Poured into a Teku glass from a 16oz can*

This beer poured a murky jammy dark red color with a pinkish head which subsided super quickly, almost instantly. It left a razor thin lacing around my cup, while there were also a bit of bubbles floating to the top. I thought this beer looked kind of ugly, but I kind of expected it to look like this considering the amount of real fruits added to this beer.

The aroma on this initially was very jammy, a bit sour, tart, and sweet. Almost reminding me of a cherry jam. Then the aromas of the vanilla beans kicked in and I wasn't a big fan of it personally, but it did make this beer smell exactly like how I'd imagine dark cherries and nectarine compote on top of a French vanilla ice cream.

I got more of the nectarines in the taste than in the aroma presenting a more sour-forward taste upfront than what the aroma would suggest. Despite this, I thought that there was a nice balance between the taste of the dark cherries, nectarines, and the vanilla beans throughout the entirety of the beer's flavor profiles, as the initial sourness of this beer mellowed out a bit in the middle and end.

The feel on this was medium-bodied and crisp while also being moderately carbonated. This honestly tasted and felt like slightly carbonated juice, which isn't a bad thing and made this whole thing very dangerously drinkable, especially for the 8% ABV. Even more impressive was that the alcohol was definitely not noticeable to me, and I would've had a really difficult time thinking that this was an alcoholic drink.

 

Wooooooweee this is a tasty beer. It pours super red with almost no head. It packs a nice fruity punch on the nose. Its sweet, then a little tart and rounds out with a little more sweet on account of the vanilla. Nicely balanced. Very tatsy beer, wish I had bought more when I had the chance

Canned 04-07-20

The winters bring pastry stout, slushy IPA awaits in summertime, an between it all lies the smoothie sour- a billowing type of beer that's propagated by brewers like Urban Artifact. Chocked full of cherries, nectarines and vanilla, this sour ale has found itself some balance.

Matte mauve ad pouring with a heavy burgundy silt, the rich pouring Stone Fruit Compote a la mode expands with a lavender-stained froth before relaxing quickly to stillness. As its rife fruitiness floods the nose, a fortified scent of dried, dark fruit teases with black cherry, date, prune, dark berry and blackcurrant. Pastry-sweet to the tongue, the early palate opens with the delicacy of cobbler and custard.

As the flavors unfold, the cherry character quickly becomes front and center. A taste of cherry pie is welcomed with apricot, orange and peach, all seemingly cooked into a homogenous jammy density. Bold accents of vanilla and cream keeps the flavors soothing and weighted as a late palate of citrus, cider, red wine and fruit rollup converge.

Full bodied for sour ale, but more moderate compared to non-sour ales, a rich but crisp finish is robust with dark fruit but broken beautifully with acidity. A medium length finish of taffy and cream candy is ushered off the tongue with those wine tartnesses and their associated peppery fruit tannins.

Pours deep red in color. No head at all. Nose hints at a lactose sweetness. Taste is as sweet as can be at first, then the bitterness of the fruit hits the palette. Good stuff.