Sour Fest Wrap Up

I shoveled a Burger King double cheeseburger (since Chik-fil-A is closed on Sundays) down right as I was arriving in the Stone parking lot to get myself ready. Here is what followed...

First up was Russian River Compunction, a wild ale brewed with pluots. I remember it being good and somewhat like Temptation but fruitier of course.




Rubicon High Mountain Cherry was somewhat disappointing in that it lacked the tartness I was expecting, but also the cherry flavor. With those two combined it felt a tad watery and bland in flavor.




The Bruery Hottenroth Berliner Weisse. I only know about the Berliner Weisse style of beer from what I've read and this was my first actual taste. I was expecting something almost puckering sour but this only had a very mild tartness alongside a big wheat taste. I tried it on it's own and then they gave me the choice of adding blackberry or raspberry syrup (something that is custom in Germany) and I opted for blackberry. It was interesting and I have no basis to compare it to.



Hanssen's Oude Kriek was as amazing as I expected it. Quite sour with a great sour cherry taste to it.







Green Flash Super Freak. This was one of my favorites of the day because it was so different. I'm guessing it's suppose to be a sour version of their "Le Freak" which is a Belgian style IPA. This beer had all that Belgian yeast earthiness plus a really nice hop flavor. It was tart too. Very interesting and enjoyable.



Midnight Sun Good Mojo. I really don't remember a whole lot about this one although everyone at the fest seemed to be talking about it. It was also one of the rare beers on the list that cost 2 tickets. I just know it didn't blow me away or anything.




After our first 6 tasters we decided to head down the road and get lunch at Pizza Port Carlsbad. I had a new beer there- Alpine McIlhenney's Irish Red. That was a solid beer, and something from a style I probably haven't had in a real long time. Went really well with a pepperoni pizza.



We went back to the Sour Fest after that and this would be Echt Krieken Bier. It had the most cherry flavor of any beer we tried that day. It was more on the sweet side. At the same time I ordered my buddy a Valley Brewing Fat Freddy's Freaky Kriek which in comparison was a bit more tart but also had less of a cherry sweetness.





Lost Abbey 2008 Sinners Blend. Another one with a predominant cherry flavor. My best guess is a bit of Red Poppy and Old Viscosity went into the blending of this beer, among other things I'm sure. It was fun trying to pick out the specific flavors.




Finally I ended with a Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noir, a pretty nice Saison, although after being torched by plenty of sour beers all day it tasted pretty normal. It was a pretty fun day, and the 9 tastes ended up being plenty, although I probably could have gone longer. The great thing was the beers had such modest ABV and we spread them over plenty of time so that I didn't even need to cool down for the drive home. I was sober as a judge.