For all my sour-head friends out there run, do not walk, to Barley John's. I'm not the biggest sour guy, but the wife & I stopped by to try the Sour Mash Rye on Saturday evening & she ordered the Reverend. Blew me away. One of the first sours I've had that not only tore parts of my throat away with sourness, but also had some lovely fruit flavors that stood above the fray & balanced out the sour fangs the beer had. I'd say this was the best sour ever brewed in the Twin Cities...not that that's saying much. Anyway, if you're bored, it's well worth a trip north of St. Paul.
Interesting, I haven't been much of a fan of their sours. The Reverend Red tasted like a glass of vinegar at ABR, probably a bad batch. Had the sour mash, thought it was alright, might be ruined from the first experience of Rev Red. I just get vinegar and makes me think of the zip/zest or whatever in mayo/miracle whip. I'll have to give the Red another shot.
Actually, the Red smelled EXACTLY like vinegar, so I wasn't expecting much. And I was disappointed by the rye, it was blah. Pretty much the reverse of what I was expecting out of these two beers.
Quite new to sours as well, never had the vinegar in the ones I've had, maybe a sour style I'm not a fan of? Been trying to get into them, started with some Lost Abbey and Russian River that I love.
Corey, my man. I like my sours as lip-smacking as possible, but this was a DISASTER at abr. My taste buss were fried for an hour. Perhaps it's improved.
Could not agree more. I also had it at ABR and it was by far the worst sour I have ever had. Straight vinegar and bandaids. Maybe it was a bad batch at ABR. Regardless, I would love to see more sours being brewed by MN breweries.
Ha! Well, it was only my second beer of the evening, but I have been told in the past that my endorsement of a sour is a good reason to stay away from it. I didn't have the ABR version...not sure if this was a new batch or it's just been sitting around mellowing, but it was delicious!
When was ABR? 5-6 months ago? Sours can change quite a bit with age, so this may not be the same beer. Maybe it "wasn't ready yet" at ABR. As I have become a sour head, I might have to go check this out. And, I missed ABR this year so I still have an open mind about it.
