Smokey And The Sour Bear
Mirror Twin Brewing

Harking back to the archaic days of beer making, the wood kilned grains in nearly all beer styles would render the beer smoky and darkened. Especially in the norther German regions where lactobacillus was present, these beers were often sour from bacterial fermentation as well. This character is often exhibited in gratzer beer, but the Mirror Twin brewers apply a controlled version of this haphazard brewing technique onto a porter base flavor.

Smokey and the Sour Bear pours with the dark brown color of porter but with a visual lightness that suggests a sour thinning. Light of froth construction, the beer's scent delivers on the tangy campfire promises as the nose is rounded with the character of worchesctershire sauce. Its taste is light on sweetness with hints of nutty, caramelized cola flavors leading the way.

Hints of coffee and cocoa peak through the toasted grain as a hint of stale bread and seared embers lead into those smoked hickory overtones. As the grain character slows, the sourness intensifies into a moderate level of acidity that brings a cidery, vinous and tangy under ripened fruit flavor. Peppery to close, the grain's charred husk applies a medium level of astringency on the finish.

Medium bodied for sour, but certainly light for porter, the beer's body is refreshingly thin as its acidity lightens the palate and offers a welcomed refreshment and thirst quenching ability although being robust in dark flavor. An aftertaste of smoke and sour intertwine in a medium length finish, one taste seemingly in harmony while the next seemingly in conflict.