Valerie
Bacchus Restaurant
- From:
- Bacchus Restaurant
- New York, United States
- Style:
- Belgian Saison
- ABV:
- 5%
- Score:
- 94
- Avg:
- 4.52 | pDev: 4.65%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 3
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Oct 01, 2015
- Added:
- Jun 30, 2015
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 1
SCORE
94
Outstanding
94
Outstanding
Valerie is a blend of two farmhouse ales aged in oak barrels for 3 months. Once these two beers were ready to be blended, we added 4 pounds of earl grey tea and nearly a gallon of grapefruit juice and grapefruit peel.
For us, Valerie is a nearly perfect sour beer: dry and tart, wonderfully refreshing, and deeply complex.
Ingredients: American 2-row barley, raw wheat, earl grey tea, grapefruit, and our farmhouse yeast blend and sour cultures.
For us, Valerie is a nearly perfect sour beer: dry and tart, wonderfully refreshing, and deeply complex.
Ingredients: American 2-row barley, raw wheat, earl grey tea, grapefruit, and our farmhouse yeast blend and sour cultures.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by DoubleSimcoe:
Rated by DoubleSimcoe from Pennsylvania
4.09/5 rDev -9.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Aug 06, 2015
4.09/5 rDev -9.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Aug 06, 2015
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by wannabe-belgian-monk from Connecticut
4.84/5 rDev +7.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.84/5 rDev +7.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
I was so lucky to try this beer, at The Ginger Man NYC, must visit their brewery sometime!
Look: Pale cool yellow glow, bit odd. But a healthy thin light foam, and I love saisons, including a weird little something called the Grey Lady, so was not scared. Color hints at the possibility of interesting things to come for the later senses.
Smell: Citrus and herbs. Not so much like a black earl grey tea, but more of the bergamot by itself, with the smell of fresh, seeded, light rye bread.
Taste: Wonderful. So light and refreshing but satisfyingly rich and flavorful. Every sip left me wanting more, but only because of the joy it brought, not a teaser but a giver.
Feel: Astringent and drying as expected, but perhaps just a tickle more than would be expected, with the body of a classic saison.
Overall: I said flavorful and full, but at the same time it was very gentle and mellow, and soothing. I'm not quite sure how that is possible or if I am crazy. Was tasting many other things too, sharing flights, but this left the biggest impression.
Oct 01, 2015Look: Pale cool yellow glow, bit odd. But a healthy thin light foam, and I love saisons, including a weird little something called the Grey Lady, so was not scared. Color hints at the possibility of interesting things to come for the later senses.
Smell: Citrus and herbs. Not so much like a black earl grey tea, but more of the bergamot by itself, with the smell of fresh, seeded, light rye bread.
Taste: Wonderful. So light and refreshing but satisfyingly rich and flavorful. Every sip left me wanting more, but only because of the joy it brought, not a teaser but a giver.
Feel: Astringent and drying as expected, but perhaps just a tickle more than would be expected, with the body of a classic saison.
Overall: I said flavorful and full, but at the same time it was very gentle and mellow, and soothing. I'm not quite sure how that is possible or if I am crazy. Was tasting many other things too, sharing flights, but this left the biggest impression.
Reviewed by dar482 from New York
4.54/5 rDev +0.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.54/5 rDev +0.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
The aroma hits of tart lemon, citrus peel, a floral Earl Grey.
The flavor follows with fuzzy apricot, grapefruit sweetness, with a background of complexity of the Earl Grey with a soft mouthfeel and wheat backbone.
A stellar, complex, and intriguing sour from Bacchus.
Sep 29, 2015The flavor follows with fuzzy apricot, grapefruit sweetness, with a background of complexity of the Earl Grey with a soft mouthfeel and wheat backbone.
A stellar, complex, and intriguing sour from Bacchus.
Reviewed by markgugs from New Jersey
4.78/5 rDev +5.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.78/5 rDev +5.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
On tap at The Ginger Man NYC "Sour City" event. I'll admit going into this that I knew very little about this brewery, though our waitress informed us that the head brewer used to work at the bar.
At any rate, I was immediately taken by the bright, glowing appearance of the beer, and when I ducked my nose into the glass, holy cow! Candied fruit, bright citrus peel, lemon zest, cracker malts, tea leaves, more. Quite frankly one of the best smelling beers I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Taking my first sip, again, my jaw dropped. So much candied pink grapefruit, and just a hint of those tea leaves, with the perfect tight carbonation a beer of this nature needs. The only drawback was when my glass was empty! Stellar.
Sep 27, 2015At any rate, I was immediately taken by the bright, glowing appearance of the beer, and when I ducked my nose into the glass, holy cow! Candied fruit, bright citrus peel, lemon zest, cracker malts, tea leaves, more. Quite frankly one of the best smelling beers I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Taking my first sip, again, my jaw dropped. So much candied pink grapefruit, and just a hint of those tea leaves, with the perfect tight carbonation a beer of this nature needs. The only drawback was when my glass was empty! Stellar.
Rated by PsilohsaiBiN from New York
4.6/5 rDev +1.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.6/5 rDev +1.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Not much about this beer that I don't like...it's more of a sour than a saison, though.
Jul 05, 2015
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