Cascade Sang Noir

This is true. Ordering it directly from Cascade, the bottles were $21 each.

 

Yeah, seriously. After shipping it was closer to $30.

 

True story. I'm glad I tried one right away with enough time to order more. Even at that price, I really thought it was worth it.

 

I had this on tap before the bottles were released and it is a fantastic beer. I paid $21 at the barrelhouse. I got two. I haven't opened one yet but it keeps calling to me from the fridge. The other one I got will go in the cellar. I picked mine up about two weeks after they were released. I called the barrelhouse to make sure they still had some. The guy said that they still had a whole bunch. It was not a limited batch.

 

I've noticed this with a bunch of Cascade sours. The general consensus is that a bugged beer will get more sour with time as the critters eat through any residual sugars. Not once has this been the case with Cascade verticals in my experience. For whatever reason the sourness fades with time.

My recommendation for folks thinking about aging some: if you like the sourness now you may want to drink up. A year from now you may be disappointed. However, if it's currently too sour and aggressive for your girly man palate (jk largadeer ) a little time might do it some good. FWIW I like it big and brassy the way it is right now and have no plans on aging any.

 

This year's Sang Noir is fantastic.

 

Just bought mine in Jacksonville, FL this past weekend @ Total Wine for $18.99.

Never had any of their beers, so I'm really looking forward to it!

 

+1. I didn't like the previous releases too much, but I'm a big fan of this one.

 

Full disclosure, I myself am a bit of a girly man when it comes to drinking sours. A beer like Sang Noir only is appealing to me when there's just 6 ounces of it to drink. That low of a pH does a number on my epiglottis in large amounts. Had 2 glasses at Cascade a month back and ended up with a sore throat for a week; no kidding! I guess I can't give you too much grief.

Hitting up any beery events while in town John? I've never met you but have been bantered with you on here more then a few times. I don't get out much, but maybe we'll be in the same spot at some point during your stay.

 

I had one last night and loved it.

 

pH of sour beers is usually 3-3.5. Rarely is it less, since the bugs that make beer sour stop replicating below 3 (except Acetobacter.) Unless the beer is an acetobacter bomb, the beer likely is the same pH as a lot of other stuff you eat and drink.

Wine, for example, has a pH of 3-3.5. Fruit juice and soft drinks usually range from 2-3. Do they ruin your throat too?

It is likely that the beer you perceive as sour doesn't have as low of a pH as you think, and your sore throat was due to something else.

Good info here:

http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/slides_nchf.pdf

 

My throat is fine, it's my wallet that is sore for weeks on end!

 

Don't drink wine or soda so don't really have a point of reference with those. Rarely drink fruit juice but I tend to avoid more than one orange at a time because they also can cause a sore throat. Personally (never had it diagnosed) I think I may have a swallow problem. I frequently aspirate small amounts of thin liquids such as beer and water. One of these days I need to see an ENT to see what that's all about. Sour beer "down the wrong tube" is no fun I assure you. Chalk it up to first world problems I suppose. Interesting link though. I'll need to take a closer look at it when I have more time.

 

It's not hype man - it's the real deal! Seriously really good!

 

I got a chance to try this last weekend and I loved it.

 

I'm drinking one right now and I put up a review. My score is slightly below the average but that doesn't mean I didn't love it. I did.