Numbstruck
Springdale Beer Co.

I hold Springdale in super high regard. Though their products don't always wow me, I almost always get a solid beer out of it

Pours an opaque hazy yellow with a finger of white head that immediately fades to a ring and leaves no lacing

The nose presents a very clean brett funk, loads of wet hay and leather, with notes of pepper, honey, white grape, lemon, and buttery oak to balance the funk. Despite all that's going on in the aroma, it is not all that complex

Wow, this is quite tart up front, more so than I expected. The front end of the sip is akin to biting directly into a lime, but it's balanced out by smooth oak. On the swallow, the oak expands and supports wine like notes of grape, apple, and pear while also turning funky tart with another dose of leather and pepper. The peppercorns don't add all that much here, but they make it zippy and refreshing

Light bodied with moderate tingling carbonation combines with general tartness to result in an extremely refreshing beer. It could have finished a bit more dry, but I still find myself quickly going for another sip each time

Another solid sour from Springdale. Not overly complex, but interesting enough to keep me drinking it

Pours a slightly haze yellow color with a fizzy white head that falls to a ring and big raft in the glass.

The smell is quite wine-like with a hint of spicy pepper that actually leans toward the fruitier pepper notes. A little oaky, but not a ton.

The flavor strikes me as more saison-like. It is very mildly sour, smooth oak, grape must that says white wine. The pepper presents fruition first with a mild heat and numbing effect in the aftertaste. Interesting. Very mild funky flavor. There is a bit of an odd bitter hit on the finish that is just short of unpleasant.

It is not well-carbonated, but it isn't still. The Szechuan peppercorn does its thing eventually and provides a lingering heat and numbing effect. The bitter "catch" just before that happens seems a bit out of place.

Overall, it is an interesting concoction with some nice, light flavors and pleasant level of peppercorn. Mildly carbonated, a bit dry, and the mild acidity cleans it up. It's good, but in my opinion it isn't a ten dollar a bottle sour.

Thanks to JLindros for sharing this bottle.

A - Poured into a Kate the Great tulip a nice crystal clear golden hue with a thin white head that fades to leave light wisps.

S - Aromas of tart blonde, tart wine notes, light cracked pepper, loads of buttery oak. Like a buttery saison.

T - Taste is similar to the nose with loads of wine barrel and buttery oak. Decent tart blonde notes throughout.

M - Mouthfeel is lightly carbonated, decent body.

O - Overall this was a rather underwhelming beer. Solid base beer but not much going on for peppercorns.

Serving Type: bottle

Shared with rudzud

Light fizzy head, no retention, semi hazy golden color

Nose pepper notes but hard to get szechuan, tart sour acidity, mild funk, saison like malts, touch solventy acidity, mild buttery oak, phenol spices

Taste buttery oak, saison like with mild funk, little tart sour notes, lemony, golden sour, fair acidity, hint vinous, lots of buttery oak, mild phenol spices, touch peppers could be as much phenols as peppercorns, tangy, very dry finish

Mouth is med bod, little soft, detect carb, bright acidity

Overall a bit of a let down, nice base beer but Sichuan peppercorns were almost existent

I recall the halcyon days of Jack's Abby's Morton Street brewery in Framingham (which now houses generally-enjoyable upstarts Exhibit 'A' Brewing) when they did the Battle of the Barrels flights. Numb Swagger, which I can only assume this beer is a reference to, began there as a dark lager aged with Szechuan peppercorns. This, then, must be Springdale's riff on such a concept... instead of being dark and smoky (as Numb Swagger's parent beer, Smoke & Dagger, was back in the day), it is light-bodied and sour. A creative and interesting concept. I have doubts that the peppercorns will come across in the flavor here, but we'll see what happens.

This pours as a hazy golden beer with a thin head that barely builds up to much at all. Sure, it retains pretty nicely with a thin, quarter-finger ring of dense-looking eggshell-white foam but it really doesn't look like much in my glass to be entirely honest. It's just a static looking brew... I was wishing for maybe even a little more carbonation or something, but the pour itself is kind of boring and doesn't do anything for me.

The nose is rife with lacto- and pedio- influenced funkiness and cheesy sour elements with a slight spice and white pepper-esque phenolic notes. Cut green apple is a bit present, but not in a bad way... maybe some raspberry and lemon notes with light gooseberry and woody tannin/vanillins from the wine barrel aging. Fun-smelling but kind of non-descript in a sense. I have a feeling this will be a good beer but will likely not highlight the Szechuan peppercorn element, which is supposed to be a little bit floral. This beer seems like it'll be too acidic to detail such a subtle aspect.

Each sip feels a little more sour than the next here, for some reason. Even tempered with some mildly-spicy and peppery food, the lactic acidity cuts through and gives me more than a bit of pause. I really enjoy the interesting notes brought forth from the wine barrels here (light white grape skin, apple, gooseberry, peach and lemony twang with some nice tannins as mentioned above), and there is a slight lavender-like note that could be the peppercorns doing some work, but I can't help but feel like this would've been better as a closer approximation to the base beer aged in bourbon barrels or something. I enjoy it, and it's a fun little drink, but it doesn't stand out. The feel is pretty much dry and bouncy with a somewhat dry finish that comes across as stiff. Still, it's not a complex enough drink to say that it's unsessionable. This one leaves me scratching my head a bit, but I still like it. Springdale's sour stuff has generally seemed to be in a slightly lower class than their hoppy beers, but I'm still hoping they'll improve.

Almost kinda cheesy, nice Szechuan peppercorn spice, refreshing sour, touch of oak