Oubliette
Hidden Springs Ale Works

 

Poured from a bottle into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Slightly cloudy golden amber pour with thin fizzy white head. Modest lacing.

S: Tart and vinegary. Funk, fruit, and oak.

T.F: North of tart with a bit of a pucker. Moderate acidity... fruit and apple cider vinegar. The passionfruit really comes through... blackberry, lemon, white grapes, wine, and oak. Funk... guava... very complex. Effervescent carbonation. Sticky and hits the salivary glands a bit.

O: An outstanding fruited sour. The fruit comes through with some great wine character and funk. Really enjoyable.

Reviewed from notes. 500 mL bottle purchased at the brewery on 3/3/18, and somehow languished in the refrigerator until 12/7/19; whereupon it was opened, and poured into an El Catador Barrel-Aged glass.

A: Hazy orangish dark gold with a low level of visible carbonation. Forms a very thin head that disappears quite quickly.

S: Sweet passion fruit juice, some lactic tart...and I’ll buy into tart blackberries. Pale cracker malts that (thankfully) have none of the all-too-frequent graininess that Tampa breweries end up with in our pale sours. Mild lactic acid and lemons, guava juice, and a touch of dry white wine. But the overall impression is modestly tart tropical fruit. Appealing.

T: Juicy and tart blackberries, and lactic and citric acid mix up front. These give way to a mild Lactobacillus (and maybe Pediococcus??) funk and cracker malts; then the juicy passion fruit and guava and some succulent melons. As with the nose, no huskiness to the grain bill. It finishes with a nice mix between the tart berries and the sweet tropical fruit, with just a little extra dryness that I guess is from the wine barrels.

M: Low alcohol flavors, and the body is average to just on the light side. Carbonation sensation is on the low side.

O: Well, this has been in the fridge since I bought it. I don't know if the low carbonation is some bottle variation or what, but I do think it hurt this experience somewhat. But otherwise, this was excellent. They could have skipped the wine barrels for all I could of them in here. Unless, as I said, they added to the dryness. But this strikes a really nice balance between sweet and tart fruit, sour without too much acid, and excellent drinkability. Can this and I’d drink it on the golf course all day. Really enjoyable.