I like to tell people I'm one-eighth Italian.* And I reckon VCR sour could tell people it’s one-eighth farmhouse.
I didn't read the info on this beer before I tasted it, and from the label I sort of expected a creamy-fruit-ice-cream-y experience. So I got a surprise when some quiet funk kicked along in my glass. Where did that come from?
While a simple kettle sour develops a straightforward acidity, VCR was co-fermented and aged on raspberries, cherries and vanilla, giving it the chance to pick up an extra something-something from whatever micro-beasties were living on those ingredients. So this pink-ish beer brings raspberry to the nose with an edge of untamed funk, then allows the tart cherry to join the party in the mouth along with a smoothness that I’m sure should be credited to the vanilla. As it goes on, the fermentation profile opens up more layers of complex fruitiness along with a grounded earthiness before it finishes dry.
VCR Sour is not one dimensional. It's multidimensional. Dr Strange would be proud.**
Mick Wüst
*To clarify: I am. It’s not some strange compulsive lie.
**Yes I'm aware his thing is “multiverse”, not “multidimensional”. But if you think I'm the kind of person who'd care about the pseudo-scientific narrative details of the MCU enough to not make this easy quip, you've sorely underestimated my desire to latch onto an easy quip. And possibly overestimated my knowledge of what a dimension is.
Published July 11, 2024 2024-07-11 00:00:00
