Frute #1
Ithaca Beer Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dustin' off the ol' reviwew notebook.

A- A bit more rosy than your regular brute, lively carbonation.

S- Acidity is sharp- lemony burst right off the top. Lots of berry sweetness as well.

T- It's brute, alright. No, wait, it's frute! Take your awesome golden sour ale and add a dash of berry sweetness. I think this one's a bit jammy, reminds me of the berries in avance. Very fresh and sweet. Lemony sourness is intense.

M- Tart, sweet, slightly puckering, drying, and well-rounded. Sourness builds on the 2nd glass, I'm loving it.

O- I know they said this was a one-off, and they're making more with different fruits, but damn, this one's a winner. Would kill to get my hands on a bottle of this.

Reviewed from notes. Pours a nice golden-yellow color with a white head and a bit of light lacing as it goes down. The nose brings forward a good deal of strawberries and their accompanying seeds. Some nice lactic and acetic character in the background, with the latter being fairly mild. Good funk there as well. The flavor melds the nice sour components with the strawberries really dominating. I always describe this as strawberry seeds, as this flavor is quite reminiscent of biting into one of the green sides, which is often the case in a not-totally-blended strawberry smoothie. Quite enjoyable. Good body with nice carbonation and a good sourness throughout. Highly enjoyable.

Strawberry Lambic? Why not.

A: Poured a hazy golden color with a little bit of slightly reddish tinged head. Quite a bit of lacing as well.

S: The nose was straight strawberries. Really nice and fresh smelling. Behind that some acidity with quite a bit of funk thrown in with a touch of barrel. One of the most pronounced fruit noses on a sour I have ever experienced.

T: The taste did have the fruit but not nearly as much as the nose would lead you to believe. That being said this beer was SOUR. Really nice and sour with the fruit cutting some of that down.

M: Super dry. Well carbonated though. Champagne like.

D: Brute is such a great beer and I like that they are trying to do different things with it. While I like the original better this was a damn fine beer and right up there with Oudbeitje Lambic for me in terms of a strawberry sour.

I love Brute, this is not as good as the original unfortunately. Its hard to pull off strawberries in beer, I had some high hopes for this one. It was still quite good, just not the home run I fantasized about.

Beer looks like Brute, its golden / amber with a wispy thin white head of small and medium bubbles that lingers slightly. Its cloudy and carbonation is moderate. Looks good.

Aroma is acetic sour with some lactic tart, mild oak and oh yeah, lots of strawberries. The aroma was very nice on this beer. It gave me high hopes for the outcome.

Beer is thin and bright on the palate, the strawberries have an odd flavor though, its almost like strawberry concentrate or somehow they are old. There is a bretty back note and a dry finish. The beer is bright on the palate and someone I was drinking with said that the beer tasted like strawberry seeds. Interesting. I had about 10 ounces of the beer, it tasted good but I think strawberries are a dangerous thing to play with. I'll take the regular Brute instead.

On tap at NotF poured into a sampling glass. Reviewed from notes.

Pours a slightly cloudy amber color with a small white head. Nose is all strawberries it's crazy! A nice subtle tartness that's good but not over powering.

Taste is tart strawberries but mellowed and smooth. Very crisp and drinkable with a light bite. It's just as you'd expect, brute but with fruit, I've had other strawberry beers and all have been too sweet and fruity, this is very well done.