2018 is the summer of sours and salty goses.
Pick 6 Winner: Sour Monkey
And why not? They make such great beach beers with their fruit dominant flavor and cheek stinging tartness. This pick 6 predominantly had sours, along with a saison (another great summer beer style), a golden ale, and cherry lager.
Karben 4 — Simply Dusty — 5.8% — Saison
Even Karben 4 admits saisons are great for summer. “Created as a salute to summer, Simply Dusty is like bare feet in warm sand or counting clouds with your favorite folks. The French saison yeast creates a personal flavor fireworks of baked apples, lemony citrus, and wintergreen. The finale is a dry, yet silky smooth, mouthfeel wrapped in the calming kiss of chamomile.”
How beautiful is that? Karben 4’s descriptions write their own beer poems. With the Simply Dusty, you get a perfect straw cloudy yellow pour, with notes of banana and lemon cookies, smooth chamomile (that tastes as good as this beer smells) and gives the beer a really smooth, creaminess. And at the end to balance it out, there’s a nice grainy, peppery spice finish.
‘Chamomile calm twilight nights
erupt into saison
driven
farmhouse band dances
two-stepped into
brief weekend romances
fragrant
heavy
air
of ale and
love without a care
may mornings
come slowly
hold hands with the night
hold on something holy.’
Surly And First Avenue Present: +1 — 5.1% — Blonde Ale
“The key to +1 is balance and simplicity. Subtle hop notes, low bitterness, and a refreshing malt profile carry this light-bodied, low-ABV beer.”
Simplicity works here. This was a smooth, and almost creamy ale, with very little carbonation. It has a doughy, sweet biscuit pale malt flavor, balanced by floral/grassy hops, that leave a slight lingering bitter finish. I really like it, but I don’t know why. It’s kind of refreshing (in more ways than one), with how simple the flavor is. It’s a no fuss, great pregame party beer.
Oh, and in honor of First Avenue and my favorite Minnesota band the ‘Mats, I made a poem by frankensteining some of the bands lyrics.
‘We are the bastards of young
chugging surly up front
and singing along
With dreams of someday
being someone’s here
hold up your beer
hold my life
And when the phone
rings
pickup
so I can hear you sing
as I drown
I’m all shook
down.’
Dogfish Head — SeaQuench — 4.9% — Gose
The SeaQuench is brewed with “black limes, sour lime juice and sea salt to make this the most thirst-quenching beer Dogfish Head has ever brewed.”
And holy shit is it good. It starts with a very real, lime tart flavor, not that synthetic lime stuff that tastes like the fake lime you get in a box of trix cereal or something. This is real lime juice that pairs perfectly with an explosion of saltiness. It’s like getting hit with a big wave and accidentally swallowing some seawater. Unlike other sours, it’s not overwhelmingly sour either. It’s a flash of tartness and then it gets mellowed out with some malt sweetness and savory sea salt flavor. Imagine mixing it with tequila.
‘Salt water taffy kisses
midnight beach caresses
naming stars, making wishes
sipping golden gose cans
eyes toward heaven
cool beach sands
Where all life
begins and ends.’
O’so Brewing — Margroovita — Gose — 4.5%
“A take on our wildly popular kettle sour blonde, Infectious Groove, made with Mexican Sea Salt, Lime, Orange peel, and lactose sugar.”
I’m glad I have so many sours to compare. The Margroovita has a similar flavor profile to the Sea Quench, but it’s on steroids. It takes the tart lime, saltiness, and overall cheek stinging sourness and multiplies it by 2. It’s extreme. If you are a non-craft beer drinker, or new to sours, imagine taking a corona and squeezing in one or two whole limes. Then dumping in a tbsp of salt for good measure. Then maybe one more lime.
O’so’s inspiration for this beer sums it up beautifully. “The best margarita you’ve ever had… in a beer.”
‘Margaritas
and beer
senoritas
my sour soul
my dear.’
Victory — Sour Monkey — 9.5% — American Wild Ale
“Aroma is very varied with lemon, sour, and mild brettanomyces notes. Flavor follows with a tart acidity. Not dry as it finishes with a malty grain flavor.”
The Sour Monkey is as tart and cheek stingy as the others on this list. But whereas the goses had refreshing lime juice and salty profiles, the Sour Monkey is more like an extreme Berliner Weiss. It’s got great fruit flavor, like sour cherry, grapes, and peaches. It’s almost like a sparkling, sour white wine. And at 9.5%, which you certainty can’t tell by taste, this beer might be a new personal favorite.
‘It don’t matter if it’s green grapes
or floral hops.
I love the taste
of the sour ape.
So grab a glass and drink with me
and pu-raise gawd for
victory.’
(You can tell the 9.5% is really getting to me here).
Lakefront Brewery — Brandy Barrel-Aged Cherry Lager — 7.3% — Fruit Beer
“Strong brandy overtones of fresh cut oak, tobacco, and red fruit greet the nose, followed by notes of toffee and marzipan. The taste echoes the aroma with intense brandy flavors of wood, vanilla, and mild black pepper, with tart cherry and toasty caramel malt in close pursuit. Medium-bodied, it finishes with lingering cherry tartness and mild alcohol warmth.”
The cherry and brandy stick out right away. It starts off with a tart and sweet cherry flavor, and then a spiced, brandy flavor that has notes of earthy, oak/woody notes. Which is all balanced by something akin to brown sugar sweetness and hints of cocoa. It’s in a way, like an old fashioned, that’s heavy on the cherry flavor. It’s also @#$%ing delicious.
‘Smoky lounge bars and cherry red lips,
singing siren, swaying hips
brandy old fashioned flavored kiss
Nights to remember in the city by the freshwater sea
haunts and holies, nights in Milwaukee.’
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(Want me to write about your beer? Click here.
Curious about what the hell a pick 6 poem is? Click here.)