Black Market Brewing Co. The Tradecraft Series Sour Ale With Cherries Berliner Weisse at 3.8% ABV (2015 Craft Beer Advent Calendar Day #17, 355 ml, no bottle date or best before, reviewed 17-Dec-2015)
Appearance: clear red-tinged pale amber with one finger of loose light pink head diminishing rapidly to a thin ring, no lacing. (3/5) Aroma: sour cherries, light cheesy funk and butyric, possible slight diacetyl. (5/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate tart, minimal bitter. (6/10) Palate: light body, moderate carbonation, clean tart finish. (4/5)
Bit disappointing compared to both the base 1945 Berlinerweisse, and to the blackberry variant. The cherries don’t come across as artificial, as such, and I’m not getting the dreaded cough syrup effect, but there’s something else going on there that doesn’t make me happy. I don’t know whether it’s the cherries themselves, or whether there’s an age or contamination issue, but the funk isn’t “clean” – there’s a cheesy or butyric (vomit) tone present that, although slight, is adverse. I’m halfway convinced there’s some buttery diacetyl there as well, just to top off the negative column. However, these are all relatively small problems, and don’t render the beer undrinkable – just not as good as I had been hoping. (12/20)
6/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
