Mountain View Black Currant Sour
Fuggles Beer

Murky dark purple color. Poured a short head that was vivid pink, which dropped down to a patchy skiff in less than half a minute. Too opaque to see any carbonation level. Small patches of lacing on the glass.

Smells like a freshly made wine, with mostly strong fermented berry scents. There is a strong funky yeast smell with just a hint of malt. Swirling the glass kicked up a light barnyard that disappeared after a few seconds, leaving mostly berry scents.

This is somewhere between tart and outright sour. After a few seconds, the currant flavor asserts itself. Low level of yeasty funk. After it warms a bit, the berry is joined by a strong concord grape jelly flavor. The total effect is like having a light, but yeasty bread, spread with a home made grape and currant jelly. The aftertaste is a boost of the sour as the berry flavor slowly fades out.

Foams up with tiny bubbles, but doesn't feel creamy. Just a bit of tongue tingling. This has a refreshing astringency, but something (probably the acid level) is making my mouth water even long after swallowing. Very unusual feeling.

Yet another of F&W's fruit-sour specials. I preferred the Sakuri Guava, but this is a close second. Again, this would be a wonderful beer to introduce to those people who don't like beer because all they have ever tried is a big brewery lager.

ETA: My notes on this beer from a tasting a few years ago were not favorable: "Overwhelming fruit, very tart. This left my tongue with a chemical burn." I gave it an score of 2. While I agree with yesterday me that this has strong fruit and is very tart, I find no nasty chemical burn. Perhaps the recipe has been refined, but I think my tastes have probably changed a lot in the interim.