As a law student on both a budget and a diet, I decided to indulge once a week in my love for craft beer. The result was a weekly ritual involving an in depth look into the specific beer I chose. The following are my picks for The Beer of The Week. I urge you to go out and support craft beer, both locally, nationally, and internationally. Most importantly, find that time during the week to sit, relax, and indulge! Cheers!
Beer of the Week 106 - 2/1/2012: Cascade Kriek Ale
Cascade has developed quite a following since they started producing what many consider world-class American sour ales. The brewery describes them as “ultra-premium,” “oak barrel-aged,” “lactic-fermented Northwest Sour-Style beers” that range from lambic-style fruit beers to red ales.
Their Kriek Ale is a Belgian Flanders style red ale refermented with a sweet blend of fresh, whole, Northwest cherries. The beer spends more than nine months of lactic fermentation and aging in small French oak wine barrels before being hand-bottled. The aroma here is really dominated by fresh cherries. Sweet and tart cherries take the stage mixing well with aromas of tannic oak and a slight balsamic aroma - which I attribute to the lactic fermentation. The taste follows the nose quite well with the cherries mixing more with smooth flavors of oak. There is a much more acidic, balsamic presence here that mixes well with the sweetness and tartness that the cherries present.
A really nice example of an American made sour, and one that I would highly recommend in order to see what a sour beer can be like.
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