On tap at Doherty’s, enchanting rum-barreled Flanders Red hybrid adds subtle blueberry, blackberry and raspberry adjuncts to oaken cherry souring and acrid barnyard musk. Though light rum influence flags, soft-toned green grape pucker, unripe peach snip and musky cologne waft add complexity to ‘berry’ good sour ale.
On tap at Ambulance, approachable oak-aged Flanders Red Ale brings oaken cherry tartness to vinegary green grape tannins, sharp cider bite and sweet red apple goodness. Leathery bacterial lactose acidity and mild barnyard acridity coat casual oats-dried base.
Inimitable “happy accident fruit ale” retains awesome sweet-tart cherry pucker, tangy green apple spritz and ripe cranberry piquancy for indelible eye-squinting Flanders red-derived perfection. Wild oak-aged fermentation brings sour cherry rasp to the complex fruit salad finish. Tannic red grape, pureed raspberry, hard cider, lemon candy and glazed pineapple illusions pick up musty earthen leathering and light acidity beneath sugary soda-like carbonation. The most perfect fruit dessert imaginable.
Stylishly nebulous Flanders Red brings muddled green grape and red cherry souring plus plum-wined champagne yeast to coarse lactic acidity. Olfactory waft seems peculiar. Lemon-rotted mango piquancy outlasts tannic apple-skinned nuances.
On tap at Julian’s, lovely Flanders Red Ale (fermented fully in oak vats) loads silken cherry-soured tartness atop vinous green grape tannins and dry champagne wining. Rose-watered lactic acidity gains musty leathering as soothing cider-like crabapple whimsy, lemony balsamic vinegaring and seedy raspberry musk settle below pleasant oaken cherry theme.
Well-rounded oak-barreled Flanders Red Ale layers Spanish Madeira-like wining atop sour raspberry vinaigrette, bubbly champagne, green grape, Granny Smith apple and wild berry illusions. Residual-sugared oaken cherry niche heightens residual sweet ‘n sour grape-juiced cider nuances.
Wonderful Flanders Red Ale collects brettanomyces barnyard funk for vinous white wine souring, dry sherry tartness, balsamic raspberry rasp and oaken cherry pucker. Candied apple remnant, lemon-dropped cranberry pucker and wispy vanilla bean bittering add depth to slow sippin’ sour ale.
Superior stylistic selection (33% young ale well-integrated with 67% ale matured in oak vats) captivates sour ale fans of many stripes. Dried-fruited yeast funk gives off eye-squinting sourness, picking up leathery oaken cherry pucker, mildly vinous grape-skinned esters and musty cellar slunk. At the midst, sharp white-wined cider rasp saddles raspberry-sweetened Granny Smith apple tartness, light cranberry wisps and dessicated fig snips to black peppered hop bittering. Vinous red, purple and green grape nuances line woody earthen bottom. A busy French wine alternative best served after dinner on a winter’s eve.
Robust generically-named wholly-organic Abbey-styled ale gathers strength from explosively tangy green grape entry to bitter orange finish. Lingering wine-soured tartness envelops grassy wheat husk, lusty floral richness, unripe apricot tease, and rosewood-spiced herb tangent, settling into bittersweet green apple grove as foamy Brussels lace simmers. An acquired taste for open-minded ‘sour ale’ experimentalists.