Le Baladin Nora Sour Edition 2005

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

This ale pours a light yellow gold color from a 750ml bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is citrusy, fruity, spicy and a touch tart. Medium bodied ale. Malts are fruity and sweet. Hops are spicy and floral. Spicy and a touch funky. Soft carbonation. Nice balance. The sourness is subtle and mostly in the background. Nice beer. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

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

Sampled from 750ml at the First Annual Stone Sour Fest, July 2007
Sits in my glass a hazy, gold color that is topped by the best draught head I have seen today; it actually covers the beer quite easily, but is composed of somewhat large bubbles and is a pale, off-white color. The aroma has a striking note that reminds me of black tea and hemp, though I am not quite sure why. This herbal character is mixed with a fruity note composed of starfruit, green apple and a nice, inviting, soft acidity.

The beer is fairly dry and only softly acidic. It is quite fruity, which does bring out a touch of sweetness. A flavor melange of plum, melon, chamomile and yes, even some hemp. I really can’t shake the tea notes, it is quite persistent, noticeable and something must have been added to produce this character; the hemp / chamomile flavors seem most apparent but there is definitely some other things going on as well. The beer has a light, foamy carbonation and is quite light bodied. When paired with Mike’s beer cheeses, the cheese brings out a note of melon-like fruitiness as well as down-playing the hemp note, while accenting the green tea note.

Actually food makes this beer much more tasty (it is very complimentary for this), which I have found to be generally true of sour beers in general (not that they need to be more tasty, as I already enjoy them quite a bit).

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

NorCal tasting July 07 - This was a beer that I was looking forward to trying, since the regular Baladin Nora I was a big fan of. Aroma of tobacco leaves, pepper, mint, dill and some light fruityness really carried the aroma to the next level. Add the subtle sourness of the nose and it was really interesting. Appearance was a hazy yellowish-orange with a huge head which melted quickly. Flavor was a very delicate sourness, lemongrass, pepper, caramel-sweet to balance the sour and a nice fruity character. Overall a very nice beer.