Alcove
Hudson Valley Brewery

Hudson Valley Brewery "Alcove"
16 fl. oz. can

Notes via stream of consciousness: According to the label this is a sour DIPA with lactose, but apparently it also contains blueberry, raspberry & vanilla. I thought that additional ingredients were required to be listed but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, it's poured a very dark purplish liquid that looks almost black in the full pint. The head is a deep pink, and it seems to be holding up quite well. I can smell the berries at arms length but let's see if I can't find anymore up close... it has a vinous aroma but that's about it. Ahh, I can actually smell the vanilla as well. No hops though. On to the flavor, it's sweeter than I thought it would be, and not that tart at all. It has perhaps even less tartness than a sweet raspberry. That's great in my opinion, but maybe not what most people would be expecting of a "sour" beer. There's a little bit of hop character in there but nothing that I can distinctly put my finger on. Mainly it's like a glass of sweet berry juice. I don't really get blueberry, nor do I really get raspberry, but rather a blend although I can clearly tell that they're both there if that makes any sense. The vanilla appears as well. It's in the main flavor but mostly pushed out of the way by the berry juice, but it appears clearly once you swallow. They must've used a LOT of vanilla in this! In the mouth it's surprisingly full bodied. The carbonation is moderate and fine-bubbled, and it's creamy and smooth ~ that I was not expecting! So, what to say about this overall? I've never had a beer exactly like this before. Some of the sweeter fruit "lambics" come to mind but even they're not the same. It's sweet but not too sweet, and although I certainly believe that you could use it as an ingredient in a dessert, or straight up as a dessert beer by itself, I think it could be enjoyed far more often than that.
Review #7,165