Auko
Burdock - Kensington Market

Auko from Burdock. Received 375 mL bottle in a Ninja strike from @Coronaeus. Stored at home at 40 degrees. Reviewed 8/10/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Only dating on bottle is on rear label “bottled July 2017”. Served at 51.2 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 59.5 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Medium Amber (SRM 12), hazy.
Body – Amber brown (SRM 18), muddy and opaque. When rear-lite, light penetrates about one cm.
Head – Small (Maximum 0.5 cm, aggressive center pour), raw umber, high density and fizzy, quickly disappearing to leave no crown and no cap, just a few spots where bubbles arise.
Lacing – Good. Tight band of tiny bubbles – particularly good for the ABV.
Aroma – 3 – Weakly sour, no malt, no hops, no yeast, and just a hint of cherries.
Flavor – 4 – Begins with a bit of cherry and some generic berriness, no malt, no hops, no yeast, and maybe a hint of tannic acid. The lactic acid is subdued. No ethanol (9.1% ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Slight gastric warming occurs immediately. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, watery, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.75 Decent sour after four years evolving in the bottle – the tastes are subdued as is the carbonation. Pleasant.

 

Had on tap. Drinks like a sour vanilla, cherry, and chocolate cola with a rich wine booze and barrel finish. Nice layering of graininess, tart and sour smoothness, and dark roasted and sweet elements. Goes down smooth and drinks like a rich dream.

 

375ml bottle - wow, the beer cognoscenti around here are tripping over themselves drooling over this brewery's wares arriving in Alberta. We'll see, I guess.

This beer pours a very dark, amber-highlighted brown colour, with a thin cap of mostly just bubbly tan head, which leaves a bit of remote islet lace around the glass as things slowly proceed.

It smells of tart cherries, raspberries, and red grapes, bready and doughy caramel malt, a bit of musty nuttiness, faintly vanilla-tinged oaky notes, a hint of estery yeastiness, and some very tame earthy, leafy, and floral hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, a touch of free-range ashiness, muddled sour red fruit, an ephemeral yeastiness, weak wooden stave essences, and more well-understated earthy, musty, and dead floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is pretty meek in its barely-there frothiness, the body an adequate medium weight, and actually fairly smooth, with nothing really a cause for concern at this particular juncture. It finishes off-dry, the malt and mildly tart dark fruitiness still working it after hours.

Overall - this is a pleasant enough version of the broad style, with the barrel treatment coming across in a rather subtle manner. Add to that a restrained bacterial flavour, and not to mention a thoroughly integrated north of 18-proof booze factor, and folks, I do believe that we have winner, at least as far as sour beers go for this sportsfan.

Bottle: Poured a black color ale with a medium size off-white head with minimal retention and some light lacing. Aroma of light roasted malt with some tart notes, some oak and fresh raspberry notes is quite charming. Taste is a nice mix of fresh raspberry notes with some tart notes, some oak presence with light roasted malt notes. Light acidic notes are also perceptible. Nice mix of cherry notes with roasted malt.

 

a really interesting dark sour, which plays so well with the wine elements in here. cab franc barrels and skins, along with raspberries and cherries, a nice combination of fruity flavors, and seems appropriate around valentines day time, with the bigger slower sipping abv, and the red fruits, along with the sexy dark chocolate character in the malt base, it really is a festive little bottle of beer. deep brown in color and very active from the bottle conditioning, holding an inch of mocha head in the glass. aroma is tangy and tannic right away, roasted and chocolate elements in the grain, raspberry bursting above all of it, fresh and tart, with the rich fruity red wine in behind, cherry and cocoa, rich but also very acidic. some red wine vinegar, sort of flanders-esque, and a chalky drying lean. the flavor is about the same, the fruit is really well integrated but again raspberry is in front of everything else, lots of cocoa and wine too, woody and very sour, more acidic than any other wild beer i had from these guys. pleasant as can be, and not drinking anywhere near its strength for me, smooth and mellow, but not boozy at all. the other fruits really bring the wine along and help it stand out through this bigger malt base, a really smart recipe. awesome beer overall, burdock impressed me enormously!