CranBretty
Ithaca Beer Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really funky nose
Cranberry dominates the palate
Heavy carbonation
Very sour
Lite yeast note in the aftertaste.

This brew was served on tap at Tap and Mallet in Rochester, New York. Arriving in house tulips, it glowed a light orange hue, with swirls of rosy pink towards the bottom of the glass. No real head was appreciable, but pops of soapy white bubbles formed across the top of the beer. Haze was certain, but no sediment was found. Carbonation appeared to be light to moderate. The aroma gave off bright waves of fresh and fruity cranberry juiciness, pomegranate seeds, faint lactic acidity and far-off Bretty twangs of tartness, chlorine bleachiness, Styrofoam peanuts, dried brown grassiness, raw white rice, and clean whips of soaked barley and wheat bread. The flavoring gave a much more pronounced punch of hot sourness from the very first sip, in high intensity stabs all across the tongue. Notes included melted plastics, riced graininess, strained pale wheat, heavy biting tartness of Brettanomyces, mildew and barnyard funk, boiled cranberries and raspberries, wheat flour, and dull orange zest. Warmth brought out further musky, basement-level dankness, along with hints of fine grain alcohol, paler malty graininess, and lemon gumdrops. The body was light and clean, while the carbonation was rather high. Slurp and smack delivered the liquid nicely from the vessel, although creaminess and frothiness were left to a minimum. The mouth was left in an astringently puckered, grotesque pose, as it was left trying to right itself between sips. The abv was appropriate, and the beer was a slower gulper.

Overall, this was a clean, sophisticated, and well-crafted beer that didn’t overwhelm the drinker with immense and confounding complexity. The simple inclusion of a single fruit adjunct, the cranberry, was well suited against the somewhat wheaty and pale malt base, and played cordially with the hallmark Bretty yeastiness. These elements melded well together. The cranberry was more prominent in the aroma, while the Brett took over in the flavoring. This is not to say they were mutually exclusive, but rather just each given their time to shine. As the beer warmed, however, things dulled out a touch. Musk took over for funk, with the beer distancing itself from you gradually, so as to have a less painful goodbye. This was a great beer to try, and our first of the sour program from Ithaca, but it isn’t a new standout favorite.

The beer pours in a gorgeous orange with hints of pink.

The beer is like raw tart cranberries. Intense tart quality with lemon juice. The brett is light on the brew with the tart quality taking over. A light wheat base. An extremely tart beer, but well done for a fruited Berliner.

 

 

 

 

 

Not much of a head and it settles to no bubbles or lace. The liquid is dark orange-pink.

The sourness is reminiscent to sour cherries.

Tartness is the centerpiece of this beer. Only in the swallow do I detect the cranberry flavor. Lowly carbonated, this seems more full than it probably is. Long citrus like aftertaste. In the midrange of the sour beer offerings.