Sour Alewife
Skull Tree Brewing

not technically a berliner, but not a fruited kettle sour either, we need to address that with categories here on BA. this is a dill pickle sour and a unique one, its tart but not excessively acidic, and seemingly different than the conventional lactic thing, not sure what they did here, an acid producing actual ferment, a high degree of acidulated malt, i dont know, but its insanely clean, no sweat or cheese or cheapness, no hot stresssed character either, really neatly soured, id love to know more. the flavors are a love it or hate it thing, you either like dill pickles or you do not, i do. the cucumber part isnt as evident to me as the brine and the dill, its herbal and fresh and pretty genuine to me, some salinity is there, a green olive note, even a grape leaf snap to it, and despite the pucker it has an almost lagered texture to it. i get some lemon in the mix, some simple pale malt which keeps it beery, always glad to have that element factor into the flavor of this sort of thing, and its dry with just a little vegetal thing on the finish, like the waxy cucumber peel itself, summery and clean, impressively refined, but still not a beer i would have several of. hard not to be impressed by the effort though, and this little brewery seems to me to be doing easily the most ambitious beers in the casper area, maybe in the state, definitely worth a visit if you are in the area!