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.

DARK SKY BREWING CO. MERCURY RETROGRADE SOUR - a review

by Daver?

One of my favorite local breweries, if not THE favorite, is this Flagstaff brewery,

Dark Sky Brewing Co. It's a couple hours' drive from me so it's an uncommon treat to enjoy one of their brews. That's a tragedy. Dark Sky's only been open since 2014, but they have an impressive array of brews on tap, regularly rotating and always interesting. 

Thankfully, they've been offering a select few of their brews in four-packs with limited distribution outside of Flagstaff. I can get a four-pack or two to enjoy while we're all sheltering inside, if I'm fast enough on the draw. Dark Sky beers tend to sell out pretty quickly south of their brewery.

But, luck and Untappd alerts were on my side, I was able to get a couple of their new brews to try. Today we have Dark Sky's Mercury Retrograde Sour, for serving I am pouring into my Yazoo Brewing pint glass. That glass is good for what ales me!

Anyway. The bouquet is cool and tangy, berry bountiful with the essence of raspberries and a tingly zestiness. Pouring slowly, you get hardly any foam at the top, at most the ring along the glass edges. Pouring too fast, and you get... also hardly any foam. Any way you pour, you get just a thin amount of pinkish red bubbles, forming a ring along the glass that sticks around longer than the foam on top of the beer. The body is a deep magenta, thick and opaque. If it sits still, you could mistake it for gelatine instead of a drink, it's so deep. The strawberry flavor is sneaky, you get notes of it as well as subtle bursts of sweetness at the beginning of your drink, especially if you let it linger on your tongue for a bit.  The strawberry really announces itself as it reaches the back of the mouth. The raspberries, on the other hand, are prevalent from start to finish, though not overwhelming. They're more the flavor vehicle, carrying the other essences along from the lips to the throat. The raspberry gives it a tingly mouthfeel, and overall you get this mildly bitter aftertaste like an orange zest, with an oddly warm sensation after swallowing. It's weird, I know, but it's quite interesting to get that much sensory stimulation.

I wouldn't say it's refreshing, it's certainly not clean or crisp like most warm weather brews. In fact, it's a little messy, but like a Jackson Pollock painting.  As sours go, it's easy to drink. At 4% ABV it's easier to drink responsibly with a pint of this, and an IBU of 3 means it won't bite back.  This brew has lots of flavor to attract a casual drinker. It would be well received cold, sitting around a campfire at night. Quite satisfying, I'm glad I picked it up, and you would be too.