Craftsman Sour Lavender

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Tasted on tap at the 4th Annual Stone Sour Fest on 7/18/2010. This sour ale pours a medium orange gold color form the tap. Small to medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is fruity and tart, herbal and lavender. A medium bodied sour ale. The malts are fruity and sweet, tart and funky. A touch of lavender in the flavor, not nearly as much as in the nose. Nice carbonation, Nice smooth tartness. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly tart.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Sampled on tap at the First Annual Stone Sour Fest, July 2007
The beer sits in my glass with a clear, full gold color and is topped by a wispy, thin white head (a pretty typical lame draught head). An interesting spicy aroma wafts from the glass; it is a mix of floral notes, some clove, something like cardamom among other things (none of which I would necessarily peg as Lavender like, it makes me wonder that all of these notes did come from the named spice). The spiciness is the dominant part of the aroma, in fact the only other note I can perhaps smell is a soft sweetness.

The beer is dry tasting, and definitely tart up front. The finish is where the lavender takes hold; the beer is not nearly as spicy as the aroma would have suggested, but in the flavor it is much more characterized as being derived from lavender. Overall the sourness is fairly soft; it is a mix of lactic and citric acid flavors, with the lactic being the dominant note. The beer is quite crisp and easy drinking; this is contributed by a perceived low final gravity and of course the sourness really helps with this as well. I really like the level of lavender in the flavor, it really seems to be at a perfect, yet distinctly noticeable level.

The spice driven aroma is quite interesting, I still can’t believe it is the Lavender driving the aromatics; it is almost to aromatic at times. Really this is an intriguing beer, certainly not the best at this fest, but it was just about the most talked about beer because it was so distinct and interesting.