I made my first visit to the Jug Shop in San Francisco to attend the first session of their annual sour beer fest. Epic! Sixteen world-class beers with expert guidance and background information provided by Eric, a certified Cicerone who was truly a wealth of information. Can't believe I haven't been before, and, as this was among the most impressive beer tastings I've had the pleasure of attending. And what a passionate, engaged crowd of folks who were totally 'into' the beers! Beer has indeed arrived, all hail beer! To wet our whistles while folks arrived, we started out with a very healthy pour indeed of the New Belgium Eric's Ale on tap. I'm scribbing a lot from the wonderful background information that Eric provided in his handout, but this beer starts with a dry sour aged up to three years in oak fuders, then blended with peach juice for a second fermentation. The nose strikes me as a bit green and has some rhubarb, but the peach essence comes through beautifully in the taste along with some watermelon rind. My friend and I marveled at the number of wine analogies we ended up making over the course of the evening (as that isn't something I usually use when interpreting beers), but something about sour beers does suggest using more wine terminology. In any case, this beer was quite reminiscent of a Txakoli from the Basque region in Spain. Among the most refreshing of the beers of the evening—great summer beer.
The 2009 Cascade Apricot spent 16 months in French oak wine barrels and then another 4 months aging on mighty ripe apricots that were introduced. This one had many fans, but I found the candied apricot puff pastry lined with vanilla to feel a bit confectionary for my tastes—certainly more approachable for the tart-averse though. The Birrificio Italiano Cassissona continued to expand my knowledge and experience with Italian craft beers, which is lamentably limited. Cassis is added at the beginning of fermentation, which I found surprising as the cassis-elements really dominated the beer. Dark, rich and concentrated on the nose—totally reminded me of a Pinot Meunier-dominant champagne with those dark fruit-soil flavors. It opens up a lot even over a few minutes and the frothy texture helps the cloud-like elements in tasting the beer. But this is a really rich, really intense beer. A small bit among a group of friends would be my preferred way to enjoy this beer.
Returning to American shores, the Russian River Consecration is aged nine months in cabernet barrels (winemakers evidently pass along their brett-infected barrels to RRBC rather than burning them, as they were wont to do) and has currants added to the beer. This has not been my favorite Russian River sour in the past, and I'd say my take on it remains pretty similar. The smell is brett, pure and simple—smells like burnt batteries and a really funky southern Rhône. The yeasty element in the mouth is actually more favorable and offers a fantastic mouthfeel, but the finish struck me as one-dimensional. I wanted more from this beer. The refreshing quality is pretty neat, but the 10 percent alcohol doesn't win me over (though it does some). There was a bit of back-and-forth between me and my neighbors about this beer, so it was interesting to see the different takes on it. The Oud Beersel Framboise sparks a second fermentation by adding whole raspberries to young lambic. Fresh, refreshing tart raspberry with wonderful floral elements on the nose, pure simple fruit juice in the taste, barely feels like beer, great finish too, clean and precise. Phenomenal beer.
The 2007 Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek takes two year old lambics and cherries and induces second fermentation with the addition of a sweet liquor which evidently makes the fruit more intense in this beer versus other Cantillon brews, where second fermentation is induced with the addition of young lambic. This beer is all about the layers—reminded me more of layered raspberry and blackberry than cherry (but of course, cherry is hardly unidimensional itself). Wonderful, light, brambly, this beer is BEAUTIFUL! Wow! Returning to Italy the Birrifico Italiano Kriek was, alas, past its prime. Nothing but band-aid here, blech. The Drie Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek uses the rare/expensive/renowned Schaerbeekse cherries added to aging lambics. They even use the pits and I detected a smokey fruit flavor on the nose. The taste is heavier, tart cherry, textured, layered and interesting. This is truly an intellectual experience for a beer, but the expensive ingredients do make the cost prohibitive, at least for me. But there's a texture there that is entrancing.
The Oud Beersel Kriek was quite reminiscent of a méthode ancestrale sparkling gamay—but maybe that's 'cause I just bought one! Smell dark redwood and some carbonic maceration of gamay, taste frothy/sparkly gamay. Pure and fantastic. Fun! The Avery Depuceleuse employs 100 percent brettanomyces fermentation and zinfandel barrels to produce a spiced, complex, incredibly pleasure-giving nose. The aromatics here are astounding. The taste is pure, direct, and non-fruit elegance, sandalwood notes, reminds me of drinking grandmother's attic—though neither of my grandmother's had an attic! This stuff is wayyyyy different. Interesting.
The Russian River Supplication is aged in french oak pinot noir barrels and uses three strains of brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus. Smells here of fantastic earth and smoke, fantastic. The taste is a shoulder massage, pure and simple. Can feel the stress melting away. Pure, elegant, superb. Next a minivertical of Cascade Kriek—spends six months in lactic fermentation and aging in french oak wine barrels. A blend of different whole Northwest cherries, sweet and tarter, are used in the refermentation. The 2008 Cascade Kriek has a nose that fails to spark interest—but the taste offers so much more. Pretty elegant, if pretty rich. The 2009 Cascade Kriek is way different. Way more prunes and raisins on the nose, and oddly green and tart in its taste—feels like this beer needs more time, though to be honest I have no idea what it would do. But the 2008 certainly felt more resolved.
Next up the Ommegang Zuur. The nose here is crazy and much more suggestive of dairy and lactic, taste weird layered funky vegetal banana skins (hey folks, I just type it as I see it). I definitely do not like this beer. The New Belgium Transatlantic Kriek is a collobration between New Belgium and, well, Old Belgium, or, more properly the Belgian brewer Boon. Polish cherries are used and the beer is aged two years in Belgium before transportation to New Belgium where a lager is crafted to round the kriek out in blending. The beer smell of a fantastic combination of pinot noir and some strong mineral aspects—later is smells more of lambrusco. Dear me, this is fun. The beer is incredible—pure light elegant delicious wow. A masterpiece wow.
The Kasteel Rouge had a nose to do die for—maraschino cherries on the barbecue, but alas tastes more single-dimensional jollyrancher grape. Meh, but that nose was really something. Pasteurized, if memory servers, and the flavors seem to have hit a glass ceiling. Finally, finally, the HaandBryggeriet Wild Thing has currants and cranberries handpicked (!) by the brewers in Norway. The malt is smoked and the beer is quite reminiscent of smoked fish. Hmmm, palate might be shot by now, but nothing about this beer did it for me. Then onto the Mission and a filling burrito!