Crooked Stave Blackberry Petite Sour - Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

DovaliHops

California

4.44/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a lightish purple color with a medium whitish-pink head that goes down quickly. Scent is AMAZING. Great blend of funk and fruit. Lovely berry aromas...blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, and then some nice earthy funkiness. Just the slightest hint of aged cheese. Good amount of oak and wood with some acidic aromas as well. Taste is just as it smells, just less funky. Lovely berry flavors, but keeping it perfectly soured. Nice puckering barnyard characteristics with sweet berries and fruit flavors. Good amount of oak as well. Mouthfeel is puckering and nicely carbonated. Drinkability is very high. This is probably my favorite CS beer. Very delicious and memorable.

Serving type: bottle

04-15-2013 07:44:50 | More by DovaliHops

HuskyinPDX

Washington

4.23/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Bottle opened on 3.15.13
Batch: Mar/2012
Bottle: 531/857

A - Pours a depp dark burgundy purple with a light than-pink foamy head that fizzes away quickly.

S - Subtle funk, wood, blackberries. Very inviting.

T - Tart, oakiness, then some sour blackberry. Great.

D - Good carbonation with a light body.

O - Nice tartiness while still strong blackberry flavors. Very nice.

Serving type: bottle

03-24-2013 05:15:11 | More by HuskyinPDX

homebrew311

Illinois

4.31/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Bottle 460/857. Reviewed from notes.

Pours a dark purple with a thin white layer of head. The nose has ripe fruity blackberry syrup followed by notes of boysenberry and black cherries. Some earth comes in at the back along with oak and vinegar. The taste starts of with acidic tartness paired with tons of blackberry. The unit ranges from earthy to some candied qualities at the end. The taste is incredibly complex and delicious. Mouthfeel is light with high carbonation. Overall, a delicious fruited sour. The blackberry makes for a unique offering.

Serving type: bottle

03-13-2013 06:16:52 | More by homebrew311

UCLABrewN84

California

3.88/5  rDev -7.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thanks to Skuter and mrbubbler for sharing this one at mrbubbler's "end of the world" tasting.

Bottled 3/2012. Bottle # 195/857.

Pours a murky light red with a foamy beige head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is sour, tart, and funky with some berry, cheese, and vomit aromas. Taste is much better with berry and acidic flavors. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer with some tasty flavors but the smell is a put off-putting at first.

Serving type: bottle

12-23-2012 05:36:01 | More by UCLABrewN84

Thorpe429

Illinois

3.8/5  rDev -9.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Cellar Reserve bottle. Served in a Crooked Stave wine glass. Pours a beautiful pink-purple color. Nose is a bit cheesy. Flavor is full of berries with a nice underlying tartness. Light and drinkable. Cheese character really comes out as it warms up, and is a really interesting contrast to the sourness and fruit.

Serving type: bottle

12-16-2012 19:31:18 | More by Thorpe429

claspada

New Jersey

4.2/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottled March 2012.

Pours hazy light purple color with a thin white head that recedes rather rapidly to leave a small white film cap.

Aromas begin with sweet and tart berries and is quickly complemented by musty and earthy funk. As it warms you get more of the nice balance of acedic acid and lacto yougrt-esqe bacteria with grape skin and vinious oak.

The tastes follow the nose beginning with a tart berry sourness complemented my a semi-sweet berry sparkling water mixed with semi-sour wheat maltiness. The earthy and oak characteristics emerge more and more as it warms and take over the flavor profile.

The mouthfeel is light-medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finish is gentle but still substantially tart and fruity with some drying musty oak.

Overall this was quite refreshing, tart and drinkable but left me wanting a little more. Something tells me this is on the downside of being a fruit forward wild ale and the Brett is really stepping up and asserting itself. This was definitely a step up from the original Petite Sour and I would gladly revisit if it was readily available but the berries are fading which means I won't be seeking/trading for this again until it is re-released.

Serving type: bottle

12-04-2012 19:51:48 | More by claspada

4DAloveofSTOUT

Illinois

4.08/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Huge thanks to poonamibaxter and daniloknezic for trading me this beer! Thanks guys!

Vintage 2012; bottle #29 / 857.

poured into tulip glass.

Appearance: Reddish / purple bodied beer with less than I finger of white head. The head drops down to a ring around the glass.

Smell: This beer smells more fruity than sour or tart. Not much funk or vinegar noted in this sour. It almost smells like a tart blackberry koolaid. Maybe some cherries and blueberries in there as well.

Taste: This one beer is on the low end of moderately tart. Berries are really what is the biggest flavor in this beer. Just like the nose not much funk or vinegar sour notes. I would have to say it a fruit beer with a splash of sourness. In the aftertaste, I get blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries that seem to linger in the mildly sour and semi dry finish.

Mouthfeel: light to medium bodied beer with low end of moderate carbonation. The beer has a decent amount of carbonation, but it could use a little bit more carbonation. The does beer drink well and is smooth / an easy drinking sour, but it could be a little more eppervescent and crisp; which more carbonation would help those qualities out I think.

Overall: I really enjoy the fruit forward taste of this sour. Its a nice and mellow sour that really focuses on the blackberries and I think that blackberries are a great fruit to make sours with. A really solid offering from Crooked Stave! Glad I got the oppurtunity to enjoy this rarity from Colorado!

Serving type: bottle

09-23-2012 23:58:37 | More by 4DAloveofSTOUT

kscaldef

Oregon

4.2/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

3/2012 bottling (If I remember correctly, didn't jot it down in my notes)

Nice ruby color, slightly cloudy. Head forms and recedes quickly. Tons of fruit in the nose, dominated by blackberry, with some notes of cherry and sweetarts. Very tart taste. Like a mouthful of fresh blackberrys. Very intense. Carbonation is a bit low. Probably my favorite beer of today's tasting, really happy to have gotten to try a bottle.

Serving type: bottle

08-21-2012 04:06:32 | More by kscaldef

ehammond1

California

3.4/5  rDev -18.7%
look: 4 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Bottle (2012)

Acquired via trade
Thanks, quirkzoo!

A clear grapefruit pink and purple in color with a moderately sized off white head that doesn't last for too long before creating a light film around the top of the beer. This leaves the glass spotted with stick.

The aroma is not particularly enjoyable, no matter how you slice it. Though it does significantly improve after warming and agitation, the initial odor is of blue cheese and bile, unfortunately. That being said, it does improve and the blackberry character and some oak present themselves shortly after.

The flavor, however, is quite nice, even immediately upon first swallow. The blackberry character is vibrant and fully present, along with some wheat and oak, and a bit of vinegar. Well balanced and tasty.

Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

This really was quite enjoyable, though I think the aroma does bring it down somewhat significantly. Taking the aroma out of the picture, this stuff is great.

Serving type: bottle

05-27-2012 16:36:11 | More by ehammond1

Outchillen

Pennsylvania

4.73/5  rDev +13.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Bottle 676 out of 857. Friend shared this with me.
Just getting into sour beers, I love some and hate others

A: light red, with very little head, looks like blackberry wine

S: "dirty baseball mit" leathery and barnyard. slightly blackberry and fruit
T/M: like blackberry wine Dry and ends with a slight tart, nice brett flavors, well aged tastes

O: I was very impressed and excided to have tried this. A company I will follow

Serving type: bottle

04-14-2012 19:45:12 | More by Outchillen