On tap at Ambulance, low-key dark sour ale aged two years in Leopold Bros. Whiskey barrels retains brettanomyces-bound balsamic vinegaring, tart oaken cherry pucker and mild lemon musk, but whiskey influence is negligible. Slight charcoal graze inundates sharp vinous sourness and horse-blanketed barnyard acridity by indirectly providing charred mocha remnant. Subtly complex.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, mouth-puckering oak barreled wild ale utilizes brettanomyces yeast acidity to conjure extremely tart blueberry-raspberry scrum and vinous grape-skinned tannins. Soured rosé wining perhaps elevated by acidulated malts.
Soft-toned oak-aged saison lets lime-soured lemon rot and musky herbal notions override mild spelt-like graining and grassy hop astringency. Subtle brettanomyces acidity increases sour side while lemongrass-basil-thyme triage spice up oak-barreled farmhouse ale.
Imaginative ‘mixed fermentation’ allows stylish dried fruit spicing to get sour aged in sherry casks and be affected by moderate brettanomyces acidity. Desiccated prune, date and fig tones receive sour lemon juicing as mildly vinous green grape esters, oaken cherry dryness and latent cider pucker bring leathery respite to fizzy seltzer flow.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, soft-toned sour ale “brewed with wild sage and lemongrass” maintains brisk lemon-limed carbolic spritz over brettanomyces-affected earthen barnyard parch. Aromatic sage sweetness softly surfaces to complement lemon candy, lemon zest and lemon custard illusions (as well as dried plum wisps and spicy coriander wisps). A fine herbal-spiced fruit-soured original.
