Foliage Report: 7.0 – It’s a dubbel which is a welcome sight after not seeing one for a while. It is appropriately enough crisp and malty with some spices. Not insanely good but the right kind of beer you’d want drinking outdoors in the fall.
Price Average: $4 for full pour
Website: https://www.allagash.com
Black Cherry Sour: 4.0 – So last week we reviewed the Blueberry sour, but in real time this was sampled roughly an hour after it. The prevailing theory is however, what the hell difference is there? The color is certainly changed, but the taste – it’s so subtle a change to be non-existent. Just another mediocre sour that has as much black cherry flavor as a La Croix.
Price Average: $20 for 12oz 8-pack
Website: https://smuttynose.com/
Blueberry Sour: 4.5 – It barely even tastes like blueberry. Sure it’s clearly a sour, and the lingering aftertaste of cereal is certainly the low point. However the main problem is there’s no high points. It’s not crazy or wild or delicious – just inoffensive.
Price Average: $20 for 12oz 8-pack
Website: https://smuttynose.com/
Caaaabulous: 3.5 – We don’t normally rate/describe/care about color like many other sites and reviews do because – well who really gives a fuck what shade of reddish brown it is? However it’s inescapable here – this shit is red, like blood wine dark red. Given it’s a wine aged sour that makes 1000% amount of sense, but damn. As far as taste goes, it is very much a sour beer with some wine flavor. However there’s two problems. The first is the lingering aftertaste of cereal which isn’t great. The second is you’d expect the wine to add sweetness here even if it is Cabernet – but it’s all dry. The result is something you wouldn’t mind a small tipple of, but really not much more.
Price Average: $10 for 32oz Crowler
Website: https://wormtownbrewery.com/
Kriek Mythology: 8.0 – It’s been a good decent while since a sour actually knocked us on our ass, recently it’s been awash of subpar and mediocre outings. Everything just having a hint of tartness, and sadly very little funk. It’s not too much a surprise that the skunkworks of Jack’s Abby in Springdale did well here. Their past outings were a mix, but down to the barrel. As for this? Well you are gonna have to like cherries friend, but it is shockingly tart, incredibly refreshing, and fruity as well as funky. When you ask for a sour you are asking for some wild shit, and this fits the bill.
Price Average: $15 for 500ml
Website: https://springdalebeer.com/
Maduro Brown Ale: 6.0 – Fairly dark for a brown ale, both in color and feeling slightly closer to a porter or stout. There’s more cocoa and sweet malt vibes than nuttiness, but that doesn’t stop it from being pretty tasty. Overall may not fit you’re (og recipe) Smutty Old Brown Dog wishes, but it’s a good brown ale as we start now to finally move into autumn and away from all the pales.
Price Average: $10 for 6-pack
Website: https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/
Camp Wannamango Pale Ale: 3.5 – This tastes like mango if it was mixed with cereal. If that sounds sort of odd, not really great – well that’s because it is. It’s not an overall bad pale ale, but there’s really a missing component here of some bitterness or maybe a bit of lemon to add a nice sharpness to the flavor instead of having it seem sort of – soggy.
Price Average: $16.50 for mixed 12 pack cans
Website:https://www.harpoonbrewery.com/
312 Urban Wheat Ale: 4.0 – Don’t worry this is the final Goose Island, and this time it’s finally not an IPA. The lemon here is light, but welcome. Overall it’s basically a nothing beer. You taste a basic wheaty ale for like a second and then nothing. Now we bought this ‘5 beer’ sampler pack because it came with a shandy, but color us surprised that our favorite is an IPA (they did have 3 tries at it though)
Price Average: $11 for 6 Pack 12oz
Website: https://www.gooseisland.com
Dawn of Hyperion: 4.0 – Two things up-front. First, expect a head from this beer – albeit one that doesn’t last forever. Secondly, yes we had to include the art from the back of the can because – well look at it. As for the beer itself – it’s fine? It starts off more sour, then gets a bit tart, and finishes a bit wet sock/bread. Like it’s an okay beer, maybe a little subpar – if anything it’s more just a disappointment from how cool that art is.
Price Average: $18 for 16oz Can 4 Pack
Website: https://riverstyxbrewing.com/
DragonWeisse: 5.0 – It’s a wholly inoffensive sour. There’s a decent amount of fruit, but it’s also a bit ‘wallpaper paste’ so you lose any refreshing nature. It’s not terribly bad, but yeah – a sour made not radically polarize those who drink it.
Price Average: $16.50 for mixed 12 pack cans
Website: https://www.harpoonbrewery.com/