Lodestar (Passion Fruit)
Elora Brewing Co.

500 mL bottle from the LCBO; dated Jun 4 2019 and served well chilled.

Pours a hazy, translucent lemon drop yellow colour, sporting half a finger of loose, bubbly white head that dissipates entirely within two minutes. A thin collar of froth lingers on, but minimal lace is generated; looks fairly typical of these dry hopped sours. Quite tart on the nose - lemon juice and lactic acidity are immediately apparent, with hints of peach and gooseberry coming through alongside the expected passion fruit-iness. Vaguely funky too, in a stinky-feet sort of way - not bad so far; let's see how she tastes.

Ooh, that's puckering - I don't think I've picked up anything this sour, at least at the LCBO, in quite a while. The lactic acidity is very prominent, providing a lemony tartness that permeates the profile, joined by notes of stone fruit and hints of orange by mid-sip. Finishes lemony-sour, which lingers into the aftertaste (alongside a hint of passion fruit). Light in body, with assertive carbonation that prickles and prods the palate continuously throughout each sip, giving this sour a crisp, refreshing bite that is well-suited to its sour nature.

Final Grade: 3.95, a B+. Some of these fruited dry hopped sours seem content to let the fruit dictate the nature of the beer, but Elora's Lodestar with Passion Fruit is a sour first and foremost - the passion fruit is merely along for the ride, serving as more of a complementary note which blends into the flavour profile. That's not a bad thing, not at all, but it does mean that if you're not accustomed to sours then this one might cause quite the jolt to your senses. A little more passion fruit flavour would be nice, but as it stands this is still a solid brew that I plan to return to. Berliner Weisse fans will probably love this one.