WILD BARREL BREWING COMPANY – VICE BLACK CURRANT SOUR BERLINER WEISSE STYLE

 

A Review

By Daver!

Here’s the thing about sours for me. There’s an equal number of “hits” as there are “misses” when it comes to drinking a sour more than once. I’m always willing to try a sour, because the “hits” are amazing, refreshing and flavorful. Will this sour, from Wild Barrel Brewing Company, fill me with delicious sour ale or regret and misery? Let’s find out.  

 I had to try the Vice Black Currant Sour when I first saw it. I’ve never tasted black currant, and honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen any food or beverage with black currant in its ingredients. Had never heard of Wild Barrel Brewing, they’re based out of San Marcos so I can’t say I’ve ever seen them in person. Their website shows they also have a location in Temecula, I’d say they’re doing fairly well. Check out their website, www.wildbarrelbrewing.com.

The first thing I thought on first pour of this sour was “oooh pretty!” The head is thick and resembles a strawberry sherbet. You’d almost want to dip your fingertip to get a taste. The body looks like wine, it’s a dark burgundy violet shade as rich as pie filling. Imagine making this into a pie. Imagine brewing this from a pie. Flavorwise, it’s absolutely on the “hit” side of my sour ale samplings. It’s got that tingle in the back of the tongue that you get from eating a good dill pickle, but it’s not overly sour. It’s more tangy. It’s not too sweet either; yes, there's sours that are sweeter than sour. I don’t like most beers that are like treacle on principle. 

There's a lot of flavor to this, more than just the one on the label. Blackberry, cherry, a little citrus zest, it's there as well with the black currant. It's hard not to notice, in fact. This really is like a pie without the crust, by my reckoning at least. It gets a little sweeter the longer it sits and warms up, and it also feels warmer down the throat like the harder liquors. Unlike the harder stuff, I don’t feel more than a mild buzz. It’s got an ABV of 5.6%, it wouldn’t have any stronger effect on me unless I drank it on an empty stomach. That’s no excuse to be irresponsible while drinking this sour, though.

Is it good? Hell yes, it’s a delicious sour ale going into summer, reasonably easy to drink while cold. Would I buy it regularly? Uh… no. I found this priced at about $7 a pint can, in my opinion that’s too rich for me to drink casually. Give it a shot if you have a special occasion, or want to impress a date, or if it’s on draft.