Debatable cherry-soured American Wild Ale with Flemish Red Ale leanings (and labeled a Belgian kriek) lacks efficient carbolic nature but scores points as a brettanomyces-laden Sour Ale. Aged in oak barrels, its tart cherry pucker gets underscored by cork-y cider dryness, vinous green grape tannins, raspberry vinaigrette musk and frisky white-peppered snip. Leathery farmhouse funk saddles oaken cherry theme.

One of brewers’ most popular and well-integrated sour ales, remarkable Belgian-styled Flanders red ale retains soft-flowing tannic grape bitterness as well as sweet fruited tartness and fermented lactic acidity. Oak barrel-aged cherry sourness retrieves musty Sauvignon-Cabernet warmth and vanilla-spiced cranberry-raspberry wisp crowding loud carbolic fizz. Sweet cider and rhubarb cherry pie illusions fill the middle as grassy horse-blanket earthiness parches vinegary white grape pucker at the backend. Wispy nutmeg-clove spicing adds depth and overall acidity never overwhelms.

Eye-squinting white grape tartness, sour cherry pucker, and cork-like toil will clear out closed-minded simpler tastes that’d invert its high rating. Like a dry white wine aperitif, its leathery tannin acidity, cask-like oak nose, and grassy mouthfeel provide affirmative astringency amateurs will dismiss as vinegar.

Enviously consummate kriek-styled ale brings exquisite cherry theme to forefront of pinkish-ruby fruited dessert beer. Loud lambic-framboise souring, bittersweet Jolly Rancher tartness, and cherry juice tang pick up vinous champagne fizz. Faraway strawberry tinge wavers. Compares favorably to world class New Glarus Belgian Red.

Ineffectually mellow bone-dry lambic (comparable to a less formidable mouth-puckering gueuze) pours a lighter shade of garnet as slight magenta head forms. Sour oak-aged cherries immerse distant cranberry-strawberry-rhubarb tartness and vinegary tannic white grape acidity. Minimal soft-hopped carbolic fizz eases leathery earthen barnyard funk and dusty rose slunk.

Epicurean ruby red Kriek-styled ale registers mightily with coarsely addictive oak-casked Montmorency cherry tartness above fizzy soda flow. Lemon-candied apple cider sourness and dry sparkling champagne wining galvanize cherry rhubarb pie theme. Acidic grape esters wield into serene barley-wheat base. Dramatic cherrystone finish sustains intriguing succulence. At Great America Beer Fest ’02, many admirers attended only for the chance to try this cherished stone-fruited knockout. Re-tasting twelve years hence: high quality was sustained.

Just whiff the extreme dry citric tartness of this opaque cork-influenced cherry ale to usurp its acquired sour ale taste. Tobacco, earthen wood, and peat moss envelop white grape esters by dryly acidic white wine finish, relegating tannic black cherry essence to mere destitute afterthought.

Judiciously tart red cherry pucker and generous pineapple-raspberry tang pace densely hopped magenta-pink dessert ale. White, yellow, and red grape tannins sieze the moment alongside stone-fruited grandeur. Grenadine reminder lurks below fruited malt sweetness.

Fluttering tart cherry theme and sweet soda sugaring provide winning essence. Musty grain overtones and moderate hop bitterness never suffocate authentic cherry flavor. Dark burgundy-hued appearance misleading for such an easy-to-drink ale.

Fizzy champagne flow and tart cherry dryness anchor fruited wheat base of corked Belgian ale. Sour cherry skin esters amplify oncoming musty earthiness. Vinous acidity hides musty sherry-port notes. Fine as light digestif.

Prevalent cherry-soured essence and penetrating stone-fruited waft underscored by musty horse-blanketed hay musk and leathery wheat-dried parch. Oaken cherry midst gains raspberry, cranberry and red grape illusions. Spontaneous yeast fermentation aids subsidiary vinous champagne tartness of exquisite digestif.