Tart Of Darkness - The Bruery

appetiteforparis

4/5  rDev -4.8%

01-17-2013 04:34:50 | More by appetiteforparis

dfillius

Michigan

4.75/5  rDev +13.1%

05-25-2013 00:50:59 | More by dfillius

mantissa

California

4.5/5  rDev +7.1%

05-24-2013 22:15:39 | More by mantissa

Eriktheipaman

Virginia

3/5  rDev -28.6%

05-24-2013 12:31:31 | More by Eriktheipaman

david131

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +1.2%

05-24-2013 02:21:13 | More by david131

warnerry

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +1.2%

05-24-2013 01:00:28 | More by warnerry

Absolut

California

4.25/5  rDev +1.2%

05-23-2013 23:02:00 | More by Absolut

tastyville

California

4.25/5  rDev +1.2%

05-22-2013 19:45:08 | More by tastyville

CanisMajor

Indiana

4/5  rDev -4.8%

05-21-2013 23:17:04 | More by CanisMajor

Gtreid

Florida

4/5  rDev -4.8%

05-20-2013 23:16:34 | More by Gtreid

jtladner

District of Columbia

4/5  rDev -4.8%

05-19-2013 17:45:28 | More by jtladner

TheBrewo

Michigan

4.49/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

We crack the top on our 750mL of Batch 2 and pour a brew of the deepest ruby red-brown into our Ola Dubh tulips. A bit of light is let up around the extremes of the edges, but otherwise no haze or sediment is noted. It puts up a two finger head of creamy coffee colored bubbles, showing decent retention, and an audible fizz. Steaks of lacing are left around the glasses as it goes. The aroma gives sweetly roasted chocolate malts, soy sauce salts, light lactics, and sweet booziness as a base. Mixing high across the top are massively funky Brett twangs, soured cabernet oakiness, biting raw cherries, drying red grape skins, mild vinyls fruit punch sugariness, smoked poblano peppers and portabella mushrooms, golden honey sweetness, wet rose petals, and the mineral coolness of freshly fallen snow. Our first impression is that there is surprising smokiness to the malts, but otherwise the flavoring lives up majorly to its tart side as you would expect. As we sip, the taste begins with vinegar acidity, astringently drying and soured red grape skins, red wine oakiness, lemon flesh, and, as in the nose, that gloriously tart Brett slam. The middle comes to a peak with continued lactic and vinegar acidity, fermented souring chokecherries, blackberry fruitiness, big Brett, yeasty metallics, thin chocolate malts, soy sauce, and unfiltered apple cider sweetness and grittiness. Washing through the finish is the most pronounced oakiness of the sip, with hearty musk, dust, and moss. To balance is tart, tart yeastiness, smoky chocolate malts, hints at raw coffee beans, herbal mint, peanut dust, and generalized lactic, milky sourness. The aftertaste breathes of graphite, basement muskiness, chalky oakiness, char blackened chocolate malts, lemon zestiness, puckering Brett juiciness, apple juice, grapefruit zest and sweetness, bready plum pudding, and vinyl plastics. The body is on the thin side, and the carbonation is medium. There is excellent slurp, sip, cream, froth, and finishing pop. The mouth is initially coated with creaminess, only to be sucked dry with pucker and dense astringency from the yeast. The abv is shockingly easy, and the beer drinks very, very well.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this beer was a tossup between the aroma and the taste, with the latter winning by a hair. From the time you crack the bottle you get this insanely complex, deep, dark, and wild aroma filling your nostrils. The “darkness” does get a bit lost here, and if you closed your eyes while whiffing you would be surprised at the beer’s color when you opened them. The taste, however, rectifies this gap. While the funk takes up a large, and continuing, portion of the sip, it leaves enough room for not only the depth and roast of the malts to shine though, but the barrel aging (spent Black Tuesday barrels) as well. The amazing thing is you can actually taste the similarities in the wood, with all that inherent dirt, graphite, and muskiness, without the intense boozy heat all soaked into Black Tuesday. This is a fantastic blend of styles and is extremely well executed. As a warning, the level of tartness and pucker here are quite high, and if you aren’t a big fan of the style, expect to be shocked.

Serving type: bottle

05-18-2013 02:39:23 | More by TheBrewo

twenty5

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -4.8%

05-17-2013 15:30:16 | More by twenty5

moonknight31

California

4.5/5  rDev +7.1%

05-14-2013 22:21:30 | More by moonknight31

ncstateplaya

North Carolina

4/5  rDev -4.8%

05-14-2013 19:10:01 | More by ncstateplaya

Josiah2729

Tennessee

4.25/5  rDev +1.2%

05-14-2013 10:43:16 | More by Josiah2729

vrbulldog22

Ohio

4.25/5  rDev +1.2%

05-13-2013 18:03:15 | More by vrbulldog22

coldmeat23

Oklahoma

3.75/5  rDev -10.7%

05-12-2013 15:58:54 | More by coldmeat23

jl28r1

Texas

4/5  rDev -4.8%

05-12-2013 15:58:07 | More by jl28r1

Michigan

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +1.2%

05-11-2013 13:11:14 | More by Michigan

scott2269

Ohio

3.25/5  rDev -22.6%

05-10-2013 21:17:33 | More by scott2269

pk18

Wisconsin

4.25/5  rDev +1.2%

05-09-2013 21:26:28 | More by pk18

danwho

California

4/5  rDev -4.8%

05-05-2013 16:52:49 | More by danwho

flayedandskinned

California

4.46/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

2012 Vintage
Poured into a Duvel tulip.

HUGE thanks to rrryanc for being insane and just hooking me up with this beer! Thanks man!

Appearance: Pours a cloudy black with a wisp of a finger tall, dark khaki head that recedes very fast, leaving no lacing behind what so ever. The head retention is consistent with barrel aged beers, especially sours.

Aroma: Wow, sour cherries right away; imagine smelling tart pie filling. There is a strong, funkiness from the Brettanomyces that absolutely fills your nostrils as soon as you smell the beer; damp, musty hay and even a little bit of pineapple. You can definitely tell that this has spent quite a lengthy time in bourbon barrels. Rich, woodsy aromas of oak, vanilla and coconut leap out toward your nose. There is only a mere flirtatious hint of the roasted malts that the base stout is comprised of. The roastiness definitely melds well with the oaky aromatics.

Taste: Very acidic, vinegar soaked cherries right away with cascading notes of lemon juice, lime peel and a sublime pineapple forward mustiness from the Brett. Insanely dry and mouth puckering with it's sour astringency. There are huge and complex lingering notes on this beer, as with most sours. The oak barrel slaps your palate as soon as the dry finish closes; with it's high tannin presence and in your face impressions of bourbon(duh), vanilla and toasted coconut. Then a very unusual flavor rears it's head; Something i've never tasted before in a sour, or beer in general for that matter: A whisper of a smoky moldiness that carries a distinctly woodsy characteristic. A very interesting and unique flavor to say the least. Its only there for a moment, but it is definitely there. A consistent presence of lemon juice is loitering around during all of this very complex and long finish.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate to high carbonation.

Overall: An exercise in excess; The Bruery takes it to the next level in every regard in this batch of Tart of Darkness; They decided that aging a sour stout in oak barrels wasn't enough, so decided to age the next batch of it in bourbon barrels which have previously held their 19% stout, Black Tuesday. Craziness, but it works very well, overall. Although the roasted malts poke through a bit more in the finish as the ale warms up, I do wish that they poked through the myriad of sour and barrel complexities a bit more assertively. I'd highly recommend this beer to any sour fan in a heart beat. I couldn't ask for a more interesting beer to drink for my 50th review.

Serving type: bottle

05-04-2013 23:31:53 | More by flayedandskinned

leftstagebrew

North Carolina

4.5/5  rDev +7.1%

05-04-2013 18:51:57 | More by leftstagebrew