Rasp-Berry Hill Sour
Southern Grist Brewing Co.

 

Taking a riff on "Blueberry Hill", that popular 1950's Fats Domino song plays over and over with each and every sip of Southern Grist's Rasp-Berry Hill. It's juicy raspberry taste hits high notes while earth and sourness plays a softer tanner tune for a culmination in taste that's nothing short of crescendo.

Pouring an inviting hazy mauve, the beer simply looks like a big ole raspberry sitting in the tulip. As the ale builds a creamy swath of foam, its fruity fragrance spills onto the nose with radiant ripe raspberries in all their true fruit glory- equipped with the special tartness to accessorize the berry essence. Its up-front taste is softly malted and bready-sweet remiss of shortcake.

The taste crispens and the flavors tighten as the malt sweetness and the bulk of its body dries quickly and the tartness of the berry begins to govern the session. While the sweetness lifts and the ale invites complementing flavors of lemon, lime, green apple and cider to work into the flavor spred, its the berry that wins out, carrying a rosé wine and raspberry sherbet flavor to close.

Medium-light in body, the ale retains a creamy underpinning and light residual sweetness to round out the sour finish and its acidic texture. With hints of dried citrus and damp burlap adding complexity in the ale's waning taste, the beer is an ultimate thirst quencher for both the uninitiated and the connoisseur alike.