Beer Little Bang Brewing Tangent #4

The Little Bang team has been playing around with their barrels once more, releasing their craziest blended concoction to date. Tangent #4 starts with a co-ferment of merlot and saison that was housed in French oak grenache barrels, before being joined with some sour, wild fermenting cherries in American oak shiraz barrels. The last piece of the puzzle came in the form of a fresh, light, citrusy Berliner Weisse, there to tie the complex, decidedly different masterpiece together.

In some ways it's similar to the previous two Tangents – those sweet, jammy notes mixed with a funky sourness, for example, lurking within the deep, murky, reddish-purple liquid. Sour cherries, blackcurrant, a touch of oak and rich red wine come through on the aroma, before that jammy, sticky sweetness appears, before some tart plum, red wine, oak and sour cherry begin to work together in harmony, causing the sweetness to dissipate as the tartness adds to the dry finish.

Matt King