sour guava grove identification

I think I may have to open up my one bottle (not hoarding, I promise!) next weekend in honor of this thread.

 

Shit, they're good either way. Win-win.

 

You silly kids with your sours.

 

I haven't had it since they switched back but the first batch is easily one of the best saisons I've had. How much are bottles, $10?

 

I agree with your observations. I have a few bottles of Guava Grove that I bought in late 2011, and they are not sour, and I remember having read at that time that the batch previous to the one I was buying was the sour one. In fact the guy at the store warned me "that's a sour beer, you know" and I replied "Really? I hope it is, but I thought that was just the last batch, not this one." He didn't know about that, but was thrilled to hear that I liked sour beer and directed me to some other stuff that I bought.

 

Ill take the soured ones that people dont want. holy crap.

 

This old blog post may bear on your question:

http://blog.cigarcitybeer.com/2009/11/11/162-damn-it-bolita-infection.aspx

 

I'm pretty sure if it has any date whatsoever it's not the sour version, but there are non-dated ones of each. I believe they started bottle dating some time after they switched back to the non-sour yeast strain.

edit: and it was definitely non-sour, then sour, then non-sour. I started one of the threads on BA when I ended up buying sour guava grove after having non-sour version at a PBW event.

 

It is well hidden. IIRC, it's written in the same mustard-brown/yellow color that "Cigar City" is written in and with the same orientation as the beer description (meaning you'd have to turn the beer on it's side to read it left to right). My memory might be hazy though.

 

back in april i got a bottle of the soured one in NY at rattle'n'hum, then a couple of months later picked a 'regular' bottle in philly. i was a bit bummed out, but it was still decent. the soured one was awesome.

 

Pliny, but that's just cuz i'm west coast

 

Yeah, sours are awful. They are absolutely disgusting and I don't understand how you people can drink that stuff. You guys should stop drinking them, please stop drinking them.

 

Just for the record I love sours.

 

When it was released, I purchased 2 bottles of the sour version. Drank 1 and really enjoyed it. I still have a bottle left and see no apparent markings to differentiate it from other batches. Granted I havent held bottles side by side to scrutinize them either.

 

As do I, my comment was meant kinda facetiously. I do often wish Sours were less popular, it'd be nice to buy a Cantillon off the shelf again.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I think the odds of anyone finding a batch one on shelves anywhere is slim to none by now.