Sour Is The New Black
Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant

 

Manayunk Brewing Co. "Sour Is The New Black"
500 ml brown glass bottle

Notes via stream of consciousness: An unfiltered kettle-soured stout? Why not. It's poured a very very deep, almost-black mahogany brown with ruby highlights beneath a finger-thick head of creamy light tan. I guess I poured it carefully because it looks pretty clear to me and I can still see the yeast sedimented at the base of the bottle. In the aroma I get caramel and a little bit of light milk chocolate, but not really anything that suggests sourness. Yes, there is something there, and it's a little bit odd, I can't describe it, maybe it's like rotting fruit, but it's not what you'd normally find in a sour beer, that acidic, "tart" character. Let's see how it tastes... well it's got some sourness there. It's not biting, it's what I'd call very tart, maybe a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. And there's more chocolate. I only got a touch in the aroma but I get a clear chocolate note in the flavor, and that seems to teeter back and forth with the caramel as well. Maybe it's because the bottle it's in reminds me of those I've gotten English ales in, but it seems very English in character rather than American. I'm not finding a lot of hops, and what I am finding seem English, leafy and earthy. As would be expected from a sour beer it's not that bitter either but the acidity helps to dry it in the end. Just as Guinness has a bit of tang so does this, well, a bit more than just a tang, but it works nicely, and I think adds to its fruitiness. This is a lot less roasty than Guinness though, and shows more variety of character in its maltiness. I could see drinking a few of these in a row - of course the acidity might get to me in the end, or rather the stomach as the case may be, but i like it enough that I might want to drink more, and I don't find it gimmicky at all. Medium to medium-light in body with a gentle, fine-bubbled moderate carbonation that in combination with the acidity lends a gentle bristle to the tongue, awakening the tastebuds, and then gently sliding smoothly away. It's interesting, and really quite charming. I was expecting something bigger, and a little less accessible, and I'm pleasantly surprised. Two thumbs up!