Snozzberry
Block 15 Brewing - Southtown Tap Room

 

 

First of all, there is no way to move forward without first acknowledging the bottle. Upside down labels? Yellow, drizzly wax from the base flowing upwards? Silly, and the perfect ode to the classic film the title references.

Snozzberry looks light pink cascading from the bottle, but amassed into a solid blend of red and purple. The white washed pink fizz above is gone in a flash leaving no trace behind.

A waft of cranberry juice, very acidic, with a grapefruit back drop makes up the majority of the aroma.

Flavor follows closely with a smorgasbord of berried fruits. Raspberry and blackberry dominates over cranberry and sour apples. There's somewhat of a soft tropical presence as well. Guava comes to mind. A simple and light cracked grain fades in the finish.

Light, bubbly, and tingly, just as I expected. A Fizzy Lifting concoction, complete with enough carbonation to fill the belly with tons of gas. Sour, but not puckering, and very clean feeling.

What did I expect this beer to be? Well, kind of crazy I guess. A funky color, perhaps purple or green? To smell and taste like candy coated berries? To feel light enough to make my float away? Well, yeah kind of… But on a more realistic approach, I just expected this to be crazy and unique. What it turned out to be is a good fruited wild ale that I will likely revisit given the opportunity.

Cheers!

 

500ml bottle

Pours a finger of head into my snifter, dissipates immediately. Body is a lovely hue of purple. Visibility is low. No lacing. Looks fine.

Light notes of Snozz? Smells like marionberries basically. I can't ever pick up any notes on these sours. I always get green apple from the lacto. Smells ok, not a lot going on, even for a sour.

Yeah, I mean I don't really know what I'm supposed to pull out of this. Light berry notes up front, finishes with almost a musty, almost fatty flavor. It's ok I guess, the finish is not desired.

The mouthfeel is as expected, super light bodied, very high carbonation. Accurate for the style. Sour flavors don't hit too hard, and don't linger.

Drinkability is pretty good for a sour, not too acidic.

Overall a pretty vanilla sour, not a whole lot going on flavor wise. Maybe that's on me, but either way, not having my socks knocked off here.

 

 

Pours a burnished orange with a slight haze to the clarity and no head; just an oily slick. Nose expresses citrus notes, and tart, tropical fruits as well as a hint of brine. Taste expresses strawberry, mango and a hint of salt. Mouthfeel is light and lively in body with a light, puckering tartness. Overall, a top notch wild - complex and quite delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

Had a brief taste at a share:

L: Orange/amber color with some redish tones.

S: Very fruity and berry forward. Not sure what actual berries are in this, but I mostly picked up strawberries.

T: Very solid, mostly strawberries with a general berry medley. Tart but not too acidic.

F: Expected mouthfeel, light and somewhat effervescent.

O: I didn't get to have much, but what I did have I enjoyed. Very solid, but nothing over the top.

 

 

 

A quick comment on the bottle itself, because it is worth noting. This bottle is "upside down". The label is attached upside down, and then wax is applied to the bottom of the bottle to complete the illusion.

For me, this was a pretty good sour. The smells and tastes of a typical sour were all there. There was a berry flavor, but I couldn't really tell which one. This bottle was shared amongst 4 of us and the opinions were quite polarized. 2 people couldn't finish their share(one thinking it was infected). I enjoyed my share, and the 4th downed the rest of the bottle.

Recently sampled at a bottle share over at 16 tons.

The beer pours a slightly hazy, pinkish amber color with pretty good head retention and light lacing. At least to me, the aroma was the best and most interesting aspect of this beer, as I picked up something of a Hawaiian punch, lightly soapy, sweet tart aroma. You can tell the beer will have a sour component, but at least on the nose, the sour component isn't overwhelming. Otherwise, I thought this beer odd to say the least, but not bad. The flavor profile replicated the nose to some extent, but the sour component really seemed to dominate the flavor profile. It literally was almost all I picked up in terms of flavor. The beer was fairly light on the palate otherwise, and so I was surprised by the 8.25% abv. The alcohol level was nearly undetectable in this beer. An interesting beer, and one I was glad to be able to try again.

It's beers like this that really convince me that I "don't get it" when it comes to sours. While I thought this a pleasant, interesting beer, some of the review scores I see for this beer are flat out incomprehensible. The appeal of this beer is a complete mystery to me.