#19b - Sour Red Tasting

I brewed this sour brown beer (probably actually closer to a Flanders red style-wise) in the summer of 2012 and, well, wow time flies when you're brewing beers. This version received additional Brett compared to the straight version of 19 and was also bulk aged a bit longer.

Appearance- medium brown/garnet in color with no trace of a head and a few carbonation bubbles coming up. Extremely clear after all this time.

Smell- chocolate, raspberry and vinegar predominate. The chocolate malty character comes through surprisingly strong but the acetic acids slight sting dominates.

Taste/Mouthfeel- on the tongue this one feels tingly, and tastes fairly fruity (blackberry, raspberry) with a surprisingly high malt characteristic that encompasses toast and shortbread. Finish is fairly dry with a sharp back of the mouth burn followed by lingering vinegar and, again, toasted bread.

Overall- this beer is very interesting. At times I find it to be way too sour, but tonight I felt the fruit and malt characters shined and kept it enjoyable. Definitely a beer only sour lovers could get into, and even then the high acetic levels might put some of them off. Not nearly as bright, funky or complex as my favorite sours but interesting nonetheless.

The BKYeast C2 added to this half might be partially responsible for the more balanced beer compared to my other tastings of #19 as the Brett's fruit flavors help to balance the extreme tartness. It would be interesting to do a side by side taste test but with only a handful of bottles of each left, and the extremely sour character they each display, that might not be a great idea.