Ska Sour
Ska Brewing Co.

 

Appearance: A dark, cloudy copper, similarly to a particularly dark example of a mulled cider. Pours with a semi-vigorous head that fades with moderate quickness to a noticeable lacing. Some black yeast floaties.

Smell: Cloves, banana, sourdough. I would swear they started with a hefeweizen base before souring it if not for the label stating otherwise.

Taste: The taste very closely aligns with the smell. This is not sour in the sense that I expect with an American Wild Ale. Rather, it has that sort of hint of sourness that you'd find in sourdough bread, which is the dominating flavor element. Banana is also fairly present. Honestly, this tastes like some demented version of a banana bread made with sourdough.

Mouthfeel: Very actively carbonated (though fortunately the bottle was not a gusher). A bit acidic on the tongue, as you might expect given the style.

Overall: I've not had it before, so I cannot say if it was once better, but I am definitely left feeling that this beer is past its prime. So if you're still holding on to a bottle, drink it sooner rather than later, because it looks only to diminish further over time. The beer is adequate, but not something I would ever care to have again were they to rebrew it.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to schmittymack for sharing this one at his 50th birthday party earlier this month. Poured a hazy golden color with a big white head. Tart and funky on the nose, with oak and brett. On the palate, this one is medium bodied, tart, funky, flavor of brett, yeast and wood.

Sammy shared this bomber. Pours a hazy orange with thick off-white head. Lots of lacing on teh glass. Smells very barnyard funky with sourness. Flavour has some sourness, but it doesn't blow out my palate either. Fairly high carbonation level. Very nice beer.

Cloudy medium grapefruit colour with a big head. Aroma is funky, yeasty malty, citrus. The sourness is there, also malty,bretty. A certain harshness,sugary, wierd aftertaste, boozy. Hops there on some sips. Carbnation right there. Drinkable though.Interesting.

APPEARANCE: Poured a dark copper with a frothy quarter-inch head. Mildly cloudy, but overall a transparent beer. The head dissipated quickly and not much lacing occurred.

SMELL: Beautiful nose. Very strong IPA-like floral aroma immediately induces curiosity in anticipation of the first sip. Faint hints of banana are present as well.

TASTE: Wow. This is an interesting beer. A sweet, metallic, banana flavor teases the tongue right off the bat, but very quickly transitions to a hoppy and citrusy sour. The sweet banana flavor makes one last brief appearance at the finish before a metallic aftertaste kicks in.

FEEL: The sour flavors cause a mouth puckering feel. Upon first sip it almost seems to be a bit too intense, but after a couple of sips it becomes much easier to handle and, in fact, is downright pleasant.

OVERALL: This is certainly not your typical beer, but it lives up to its name as a sour beer. This is my first impression of Belgian-style Sour Ale, and at first it was a bit scary, but I will try one again and after getting over the initial shock, it becomes very enjoyable.

A - Dark orange/amber with a huge dirty white head. Bit of a gusher when I popped the cork. Thick lacing left on the glass.

S - Lots of Brett and citrus up front. A bit of band aid is lingering underneath. As the beer warms the Brett really take over.

T - Light sweetness matched with a note of citrusy hops. The barnyard funk comes through quickly and pretty well dominates the beer. Just a touch of a light bodied red wine comes through late in the drink. I also get a bit of leather and just a touch of alcohol. Brett really is far and away the most dominant of the tastes.

M/D - Light to medium bodied and very well carbonated. Just a bit of residual sweetness lingers after the drink.

I got a bottle of this from rye726. Thanks, Ryan!

The pour is solid, a hazy orange with a dense off-white head with solid retention and minimal lacing. The nose is decent. Mostly a blend of Brett-like bandaid, plastic and cloves with honey, there's some juicy citrus as well, along with a touch of red wine. Surprisingly, there's some alcohol on the nose as well. Sourness is rather low, this is mostly just funky. Wood character is low.
The palate opens tart and very Bretty, with a melange of bandaids, clove and some plastic. It takes my palate a little while to get used to it, but once it does, I pick up a moderate honey-like sweetness, some caramel and oranges. A little vinous, the alcohol does come through on the finish, almost a little solvent-like too. Looking at some other reviews, it looks like there's rather significant bottle-to-bottle variation, as no one else has mentioned clove or plastic, but those are the first things all of threw out. Drying on the finish with a little oak, this beer is medium-light in body with moderate carbonation. Decent stuff, I'm glad I got to try it, but for the price, I'd rather grab an Eric's Ale instead.

Shared with hophead101 on 5-6-10.

A - pours an orangish chestnut brown with an inch of foam that stayed put for quite a while

S - sort of hoppy, citrusy mixed with some leatherness and wood

T - horsehair, earthiness with some belgian spices, light brett funk, not sour, not really what I was expecting

M/D - light enough to drink alot of, flavors suggest all brett, not really sour, i like it but its just not what i was expecting.

Thanks to josh...
Appears a hazy amber with an orange hue and a fluffy white cap that slowly fades. Scattered spots of lacing are left around the glass.
Smell is of funky wood, white wine, vanilla, mango, and farmhouse funk.
Taste is of the aromas with some tropical fruit flavors that are less funky than the given aromas. Very enticing though and somewhat addictive with each sip.
Mouthfeel is medium bodied, dry, fruity, and wine-like.

My brother sent this out to me for my birthday as part of a package for my birthday. My first Ska beer too as it happens.

Appearance- Pours a really nice shade of hazy copper gold out of the bottle with a nice two fingers of pillowy white head. Great retention and a lot of lacing l

Smell- Surprisingly vinous and tart right of the bat. Lots of grapeskin and brett in the nose, with a whole lot of barnyard smells coming in. I'm very intrigued by the lactic grape smells coming off this one though, because I really didn't think it was going to go in that direction.

Taste- A lot more funk and a lot less fruit than the nose. Again, lots of complex barnyard flavors and funk, some musty hops, and a cereal graininess. Finishes long and dry with only a very slight tartness, which all in all is quite refreshing. No sign of any fruit flavors and not a ton of tartness however. Oddly reminded me a touch of Orval.

Mouthfeel/Drinkability- Mouthfeel was good and this beer has a long and dry finish which I quite enjoyed. Drinkability is surprisingly good as well as a result, though I would have liked more of the fruity scents detected in the nose to come through on the palate.

Overall, a very decent and interesting beer. I would recommend giving it a try but the nose is deceiving as I mentioned.

Split 4 ways with some good friends. Poured into a Bruery tulip glass. From notes.

A: Straw colored, smoky, brown, with algae-lie coating and hazy.

S: Black cherries, mango, coconut, booze, and some pine lurking in the background.

T: Oaky, bitter, citrusy. Has a tropical essence, especially that of pineapple. Can also definitely taste the wine barrel in the finish.

M: Mellow, smooth, well carbonated.

D: The best feature of this beer. Nice blend of soft textures that can be sipped on all night long.

Overall, a hoppier sour than I'm used to. Pretty unique. Thanks Scott!

Thanks for sharing Greg! Had this on 3.5.10 in the rooftop lounge. From notes.

Pours an orangey color with some nice off-white foam capping it off. Excellent lace and filmy retention throughout.

Smells like some herbal hops and yeastiness... weird in a way. Hops are here but.... that's where my notes leave off on that line. The next line jogs my memory of a certain earthiness and woodiness underneath the herbal hops, but that it's working in a very weird manner. Not the most appealing thing ever, but some brighter citrusy notes try to save it.

Taste has a moderate bitterness and some tangy mustiness. A little bit of tropical fruit and some musty straw-like texture. Orange peel and brett. Decent amount of carbonation here scrubs the tongue for the next sip, doing wonders for this beer. An interesting take on the style of 'sour pale ale' and my first offering from this brewery. I wouldn't turn this down if I were offered it again.

750ml bottle. Pours a cloudy tea-brown with a smallish white head that quickly diminishes to a thin film that leaves little lacing.

The aroma is sour green apples, some wood and yeast. Bretty stinky bitterness comes out as it warms which wasn't as nice.

The flavor is surprisingly bland. Very little watery wood and sourness up front with an unpleasant charred vegetal bitterness in the finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with light carbonation.

Overall, not a great sour. I like sours, I like hops and I like Brett. This is not good though. It's pretty subdued in the flavor and just has off unpleasant notes. It's not awful though...I got through the bottle and was able to drink at the end without noticing flaws, at the end it was actually semi-enjoyable.

750ml bottle thanks to doodler for the awesome extra. poured into a flute.

A- pours a hazy golden color. produced a finger of pure white head that reduces to a thin film and collarthat stays along for the whole ride. light lacing

S- tart lemon rind is the thing that comes to mind when taking a whiff of this one. a hint of the brett funk and belgian yeast esters. it has most of the right aromas for a soured golden ale but is just missing a little complexity.

T- as others have said, this is a good bit more bitter than any sour I've had before. I thought I would enjoy that factor but the bitterness doesn't play well with the brett IMO. the funky/bitter combo ends up tasting a little off. the lack or sourness doesn't help much either. the sourness is barely detectable, more like a little tartness with the citrus qualities of the beer.

M- light, dry and crisp. right on for a "sour" pale

D- I will have no problem finishing the 750. no known ABV but I wouldn't guess it's anything over 6 or 7%. if available I might another one up and see if it develops any sourness. it's certainly not a bad beer and actually a little better than I expected.

Nice hoppy sour, more deserving than some reviews indicate. Uncut, aged in wine barrels.

Pours a woody brown with tints of orange and amber. Silky beige head leaves a light lace.

Nose has herbal hops, bready malts, white wne gapes, caramel, Barnyard funk and a tart citrus aroma.

Taste has bitter hops up front followed by sour yeast, a musty funk, wood, chardonnay, earthy hops, candy malts and camrelized sugars.

Medium body is crisp and refrehing. Bitter hops and wild yeast linger through the finish. Tasty stuff, Ska's best beer yet.

Great deal at $10 a bottle.