Almanac Beer Company Dogpatch Sour - Ale Brewed with Cherries and Aged in Wine Barrels

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Almanac Beer Company Dogpatch Sour - Ale Brewed with Cherries and Aged in Wine Barrels.

From the Almanac Beer Company website: “This barrel-aged wild ale is named for our San Francisco neighborhood and pays tribute to the Flanders Red style of beer. Aged in wine barrels, this lightly tart ale is brewed with California Rainier cherries using a house blend of wild yeasts, bacteria and SF sourdough yeast. Pair this complex ale with ripe figs & blue cheese or seafood bouillabaisse.

Farm to Barrel

Our Farm to Barrel beers focus on the eons old tradition of aging beers in oak barrels. This American wild ale was aged in used wine barrels for eight months. In the barrels we blended a classic Belgian-style red ale with local cherries and a cocktail of wild Belgian and American yeasts, including San Francisco Sourdough starter. The yeasts slowly morph the beer from a traditional ale into something wild, creating a mild acidic bite as well as pulling oak and vanilla flavors from the barrel. After maturing, the barrels are blended back together—creating a vinous, delicate beer that captures a specific moment in time from our select Northern California Farms. Farm to Barrel Beers are alive in the bottle, and will continue to mature gracefully for up to 3 years.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a murky reddish brown with a nice white head and a little lacing.

Aroma: Tart cherries, yeasty funk, oak, vanilla, bready malts and white wine.

Taste: Sour and tart cherries, grape/wine tannins, oak, sweet bready malt and yeast funk.

Overall: Balanced, crisp and clean, Almanac Beer Company Dogpatch Sour is very nice.  This 7.5% ABV offering is very enjoyable and I’d most definitely drink it again.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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