TUPPS Imperial Pastry Sour Ale

When we start talking Texas brewers, McKinney's TUPPS Brewery probably doesn't get near the notice it should be getting, with a whole slew of interesting and tasty brews in their lineup.  Recently i took on their Imperial Pastry Sour Ale, an 8.9% ABV sour ale brewed with graham cracker, blackberry, and red currant.  The beer pours a hazy cranberry color with a light pink head and smells of tart fruits and biscuits.  The flavor is a sweet and lightly sour mix of fruit and malt with some notes of the currant on the back end, like drinking a piece of pie.

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Blue Owl Dapper Devil

Some weekends, a sour beer is just the right way to go.  And so we have the Dapper Devil from Blue Owl Brewing, a sour raspberry Belgian Strong Ale that certainly does not disappoint.  Pouring a nice ruby red with a light pink head, the beer smells of raspberries (naturally) with some some hints of the Belgian yeast.  The flavor is heavy on the raspberries, with a nice and dry tartness that really masks the brew's 9% ABV.  Watch out, because it will sneak up on you.  All in all, a great Sunday beer.

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Cigar City Margarita Gose

This is probably more of a beer for the spring or summer, but when something new from Cigar City pops up in your berg, you try it out, regardless of season.  And so we have the Margarita Gose.  Pouring a wheaty gold with a frothy white head, the 4.5% ABV beer smells of tart lemon and lime.  The flavor is a mix of said lemon and lime, salt, and a slightly sour punch.  And it's ridiculously easy to drink too.  Bring on the spring.

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Martin House Plum Pudding

Lately, i have been a total sucker for dessert beers.  I just can't help myself.  And so we have Plum Pudding, a sour plum ale with lactose and fig from the always interesting Martin House Brewing.  The 5.3% ABV beer pours a murky brown with an off white head and smells of plum and fig and sugar.  The flavor is a tart, but not overly tart, mix of fruit and malts with some subtle vanilla notes and a tangy finish.  It's a total holiday brew, and i am here for it.

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Goses Are Red

I'm always game for trying different styles of beer.  Honestly it's half the reason i do this little blog.  Anyway, i recently tried Goses Are Red, a sour, fruited gose style beer from The Bruery that's basically the beer version of a rosé.  The 5.6% ABV brew pours a clear amber with shades of pink and quickly dissipating, very carbonated head.  Aromas of fruit, spice, coriander, and a mild funk pair well with those same flavors of fruit and spice, along with some grape notes and an all around tartness that's clean and crisp from start to finish.  Drink this one with dinner.

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Prairie Artisan Rainbow Sherbert

We're finally starting to get some fall weather around here (which means it's in the '80s), but here's one last summertime brew to taste before the days really start to shorten.  Prairie Artisan Ales' Rainbow Sherbert is a sour ale that pretty much tastes like...you guessed it...rainbow sherbert.  The 5.1% ABV beer pours a slightly hazy gold with a little, quickly dissipating white head.  Aromas of fruit, citrus, and an overall tartness abound.  Flavors of orange, pineapple, and raspberry hit first with some sourness on the back end along with just a hint of funk.  Drink this as a farewell to the summer.

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Oddwood Ales Vermillionaire

Seriously, i am all about the pink beers this summer.  I can't control it.  I can't help myself.  Anyway, in my ongoing quest to visit 40-50 breweries this summer, i managed to get my wife and kids to join me at Oddwood Ales in Austin for some beer, some pizza, and some free video games.  The kids particularly enjoyed the video games.  I enjoyed the beer.  And my favorite was the Vermillionaire, a 6.6% ABV sour brew barrel fermented with raspberries.  Pouring a solid pink with an off white, pinkish, and quickly dissipating head, the beer smells of raspberries, cherries, and a slight tart funk.  The flavor is a crisp and sour mix of said raspberries and cherries that never goes overboard in any particular direction, making it a perfect after-dinner drink.  I even brought a bottle home.

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Brieux Carré Phuk Boi

Another beer from my New Orleans trip last weekend, the naughtily named Phuk Boi from Brieux Carré Brewing Co. was the perfect kind of decadent yet easy drinking libation a crawl through the Crescent City calls for.  The brewery was also only 4 blocks or so from the house we were staying in.  A 6.1% ABV sour raspberry milkshake IPA, the beer pours a hazy gold with just the slightest of pink tints and smells of raspberries, citrus, and a hint of dankness.  The flavor is sweet and tart with the raspberries hitting on the front end, culminating in a lightly bitter, yet still tart, full-bodied milkshake feel on the back.  Tasty and easy to drink, seek out a Phuk Boi next time you're bumming around or near the French Quarter.

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Parleaux Beer Lab Berry Curie

I just got back from a lovely weekend in New Orleans, and as i was only there about 48 hours, just barely skimmed the surface of the city's craft beer scene.  I did make it to a couple of places though, and one of those was the Parleaux Beer Lab in the Bywater neighborhood.  A wonderful selection of beers to choose from, i started with the Berry Curie, a boysenberry/blueberry sour gose.  The brew pours a reddish pink with a light white head and smells of fruit, citrus, flowers, and sugar.  The beer is sweet from the added berries with a pleasant all around tartness with maybe just a hint of salt.  And at 3.8% ABV, this is one of those springtime day drinkers that goes great with backyards and sunshine.  I will have to get back there someday.

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Jester King Montmorency Vs. Balaton

At the start of every year, i gradually begin a procurement of different bottles of beer that eventually amasses into a veritable smorgasbord of libations that i drink away at Christmas time, only to then start collecting again.  It's become kind of a ritual.  At any rate, of the several different bottles i consumed over the holiday, one of the very best was the meal time accompanying Montmorency Vs. Balaton from Jester King.  Acquired from the brewery on Father's Day, this 6.1% ABV barrel aged sour beer, refermented with two different kinds of cherries, pours a beautiful transparent red with a quickly dissipating pinkish white head and smells of fruit and cherries with tart notes abounding.  The flavor is sweet and tart with a light and crisp mouthfeel that gives the brew some wine and champagne characteristics, the sourness only slight subsiding from start to finish.  This was a wonderful brew, perfect for a big holiday gathering or meal, and i really wish i had purchased more than one bottle.

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Real Ale Magnum Trux

Real Ale has been putting out quality beer for a long time now, and some of their best and most interesting brews arrive to us via the brewery's fantastic Mysterium Verum series, small batches of barrel aged and sour beers that are variations of their usual year round or seasonal fare.  My favorite beer the brewery makes is their Black Quad, a lovely Belgian Quadruple ale that's been one of my go-to beers for at least half a decade now.  So, i was pumped to see it used as the base brew for Magnum Trux, a 10.3% ABV barrel-aged sour quad with black currants.  There's a lot going on there.  After primary fermentation, the beer is then aged in oak barrels for four months with some added house culture yeast, and then come the black currants.  Pouring ruby black with a quickly dissipating white head, the brew smells of currants, dark fruit, and some overall sourness.  The flavor is a mix of sweet and sour, notes of currant, fig, other dark fruit, and some slight hints of spice, all in a smooth and drinkable mouthfeel.  All in all, it's a complex yet very drinkable sour brew.

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Mystic Luminous Ruins

As it turns out, when i was in Washington last month, i also drank a lot of beer not from the Pacific Northwest.  My old friend up there is a fellow beer nerd, so naturally we imbibed brews from all over the country.  One of the more delightful and summery concoctions came from Massachusetts' Mystic Brewery, with their very limited Luminous Ruins, a dry hopped sour farmhouse ale.  The beer pours a hazy and bubbly gold with a thick white head and smells of citrus, orange, grass, yeast, and just a little bit of funk.  The flavor is fruity and tart with some subtle hop hints and finishes crisp and dry.  All in all, it's quite a refreshing little 4.3% ABV brew, that unfortunately was only brewed once.

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Red Horn Hippie Hollow Dry Hopped Sour Ale

Ever since moving out to the suburbs a year and a half ago, one of my favorite places to frequent is Red Horn Coffee House and Brewing Co.  They never cease to impress me with their bounty of tasty brews.  Earlier this year, as part of their 2nd anniversary celebration, the brewers released their first bottled beers, one of which i will get to eventually, as it's currently aging at home.  But the other, the very Austin-named Hippie Hollow, is a wonderful sour pale ale that hit all the right marks.  Pouring with a hazy golden hue and bubbly head, the beer smells of malt, fruit, citrus, and some bread notes.  Tart and hoppy, the 6.5% ABV beer drinks rather smooth, the sourness from the different yeast cultures playing quite well with all of the pale ale hops, that all gives way to a slightly bitter finish.  I'm looking forward to future releases.

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The Illustrated Man Dark Sour with Berries

Over the last decade or so, as i've made and honed and tested my beer palette, i've discovered that for the most part, i love all of it.  Bitter, malty, hoppy, dry, fruity, sour...and on and on, every season seems to bring me a new favorite.  And never in a million years would i have figured myself for a sour beer fan, but i am what i am.  Austin's Independence Brewery recently released a dry and fruity dark sour called The Illustrated Man.  The beer pours a dark brown with hints of purple and a bubbly, off-white head.  Initial aromas of citrus, berries, and tartness abound, with some subtle notes of malt and roast.  The flavor is tart and fruity, a mix of citrus and berries at 6% ABV with an all around dry finish.  All in all, The Illustrated Man is a great backyard beer for a warm afternoon or cool evening.

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(512) Wild Bear

I missed posting last week, but i'm back again with an absolutely wonderful beer from (512) Brewing here in Austin.  The Wild Bear is a double brown ale with Brettanomyces yeast and Pediococcus bacteria cultures added after primary fermentation and then aged in oak barrels for 10 months.  Pouring a nice, dark brown with a foamy, white head, this 8.5% ABV brew smells of oak, cherries, and hints of vanilla with an overall tartness prevailing.  The flavor is full of sour brett funkiness with a nice malty backbone and notes of vanilla.  This is a tasty brew wrapped together in a badass bear package.

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Blue Owl Wee Beastie

Since the explosion of craft breweries began in earnest a few years ago, many make their claim to fame by securing themselves firmly within a particular niche, be it Belgians, IPA's, and so on.  Austin's Blue Owl Brewing specializes in the sour, their collection of fine offerings ranging from tart to "i can't feel my tongue."  The brewer's fall seasonal, the Wee Beastie, a sour Wee Heavy or Scotch ale is definitely one of the more interesting beers i've had the pleasure of imbibing this Autumn.  The brew pours dark and cloudy, with sweet aromas of malt, nuts, and darker fruits permeating from the top of the glass.  It smells delicious.  As for the flavor, the maltiness and nuttiness are definitely present, but fall to the back, the sweet fruit notes at the forefront and the almost overwhelming tartness dominating it all.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.  After the initial shock of just how sour the Wee Beastie is, all the other notes begin to come together nicely, creating quite a complex brew.  And, at 8% ABV, it doesn't mess around, a great post meal drink.

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Boulevard Funky Pumpkin

Finally a beer for fans of pumpkin ales and sour brews, Boulevard Brewing's Funky Pumpkin is a style unto itself, a wholly original concoction that surprised me as to how much i enjoyed it.  On paper, a sour pumpkin ale probably sounds like a terrible idea, but in practice, it totally works.  Funky Pumpkin pours a hazy gold with a light and dissipating white head and smells of bread and light spices with a tiny hint of pumpkin.  The 5.8% ABV beer is crisp and medium-bodied, sour, but not overly so with very subtle flavors of pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, and yeast, all in a tart little package.  Definitely one of the more interesting beers i've tried in a while, but tasty all the same.  Fans of pumpkin beers or sours should give it a whirl.

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Ol' Oi Barrel-Aged Sour Brown Ale

Sometimes i feel like i'm the only one, but i love a good sour beer every now and then.  Austin's Jester King Brewery often seem to be the master purveyors of that kind of thing.  While visiting the brewery a couple of weeks ago, i tried their Ol' Oi Barrel-Aged Sour Brown Ale...and loved it.  The brew comes in at 6.3% ABV, and uses a variety of wild yeasts and souring bacteria to give it its kick.  It pours a lovely brown with a light tan head and smells of wheat and spices.  To me, you can practically smell the sour on it.  Aside from the prevailing strong sour notes of the beer, their are also hints of bread, citrus, and some subtle malts.  All in all, this is a great beer if you dig on the sour.  And i do.

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Silly Sour Ale

Coming from the brew minds and yeasts of Belgium, the Silly Sour Ale from Brasserie de Silly is a tasty little sour ale to get those juices flowing.  Pouring a lovely copper with a solid, but fairly quickly dissipating head, the beer smells of flowers, malts, and wheat.  The taste is tart, but not overly so, the sourness working with the subtle sweeter flavors and caramel notes.  At 5.5% ABV, this is a great party beer for those looking for something more unique.  Hooray Belgium!

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