Erudite
Pretentious Barrel House

 

 

Dark, sour and succulent, the brewers and blenders of Pretentious Barrel House create a rounded wild ale with remnants of lambic and farmhouse varieties along with copious amounts of blackberries and plums to add a robust taste to a dry and effervescent texture.

Deep mauve and hazy, Erudite builds a creamy lather before trailing into a wine-like appearance. Sour scents taunt the nose with hints of rose wine, tangy dark fruit and the earthen perfume of damp cellar. Sourdough and taffy glide onto the early palate with hints of cobbler and a scant wheat sweetness to start the show.

The fruit flavors of plum and blackberry wash the middle palate with fruit juices before the expressive bubbliness carries away any associated sweetness rather quickly. Sourness rests in the fruit's wake with a strong undertow of dry french cider, sparkling white wine, lemon, orange, pear and gooseberry. Its piquant acidity teases the tastebuds with the peppery nature of weathered oak, cork and balsa.

Its puckering sourness prickles the mouth with a clean acidity followed by echoes of oak and leather after a quick closure of wine and berries, but with a soft afterglow of wheat bread in a shallow after palate.