Puzzle fighter, Super Smash Bros, and drinking occurred. I hurt the following morning.
de Garde Cherry Raz Bu b2: People were a little slow in arriving, so this beer was used to help stretch out the hammies for those who were already here. Tons of raspberry here, with just a hint of cherries. It’s extremely good despite being a little on the acidic side.
Casey The Low End: Something is a little weird here. It’s not nearly as sour or hoppy as other bottles I have opened. Not sure if this has to do with fresh vs non-fresh, or if this is a bottle variation issue. Still alright though.
Old Soul The Sauce: Soooo, this Sacramento brewery needs to spend less money on packaging and more money on the beer itself. That being said, it reminded me a lot of Cascade’s coffee blond beer, whatever that thing is called.
Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic: Yeah…..I think this beer is a little bit better than the Flora Cherry I had recently. God I feel like such an asshole comparing American cherry sours to their Belgian counterparts, they almost always lose. This beer just has an incredible balance of fruit, oak, and funk.
Mikkeller Beer Geek Vanilla Shake: I wonder if they make a weasel variant of this, because that would just be fantastic. So much vanilla here, and it doesn’t taste artificial either!
Upright Provision: MY GOD UPRIGHT WHY DO YOU AGE SO WELL?! This beer was one of my favorites of the night, so subtle and well balanced. This might be my favorite biere de garde ever. I could crush the whole bottle to myself. Some aromatics, with figs, dates, and a tiny bit of tartness. OM NOM NOM.
So…..I must have switched glasses with someone at some point. Fuck.
Wait, I found my glass again! YES! This bottle of West Ashely is very similar to batch 2, with very little apricots, but incredible wine barrel finish with lots of funk.
Ale Apothecary Shirley, you can’t be serious: Ale Apothecary needs to dial back the booze, I just don’t want a 9% sour beer. I don’t. Other than that it tastes great, not a lot of funk, but tons of fruit. This beer is the polar opposite of the bottle of West Ashley we had.
Rare Barrel Map of the Sun: Definitely the most sour of the last three beers, but it strike the balance between the two, and it was fruitier than batch 1 Map of the Sun. Well done Rare Barrel, I might one day get over your shitty as name.
Casey Apricot Fruit Stand: Nice apricot flavor here, but the base beer is just too thin. Mouthfeel was lacking and there wasn’t enough of a backbone to support the apricots. Worst of the stone fruits so far.
de Garde Nectarine Bu: Okay, so this beer is more fruity than Map of the Sun, and just about as sour. I think this and West Ashley are my favorites of the stone fruits. Best thing to do would be to blend them and create a balanced stone fruit sour.
Nailed it. It was wonderful.
This bottle of 2013 Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze was sublime.
samsbeeradventure 