Bitter End Sour Prick

12 oz. Bottle [Pre-GABF party ’04] cloudy pinkish orange with a small head that dissolves quickly. Sour cherry with hints of watermelon, horse blanket funk and musty wood. The flavor is all that plus a slight fruity sweetness that helps balance the flavor. Acetic and leathery finish. Great beer.

[At GABF 2004] An unclear orange-brown beer with a small disappearing white head. The aroma is lovely sour with notes of wood. The flavor contains a great sourness, that draws out the mouthwater, and also some light metal notes. Nice one.

12 oz. bottle aged for about 8 months. Amber to red (maybe cranberry) color with large carbonation head that dissipates rather quickly. The aroma is tart (especially bret) and funky with a bit of strawberry. The flavor is tart, acetic, and leathery. It is nicely carbonated to deliver all the flavors mentioned. Thanks Tim & Brian for delivering this masterpiece to Austin!!

GABF 2004. There was debate about this beer. The first time I tasted it, it was horrible; it tasted exactly like pickle juice. Later, I was told by a knowledgable person to go back and try it again. I was told by someone (I don’t know if it was the same person) that the beer that was in the Sour Prick pitcher was now Lip Burner, which was better than the pickle juice. I went back, and damn straight, it was a sight better. So, my conundrum: I don’t really know what I tasted, and I don’t know how to rate it. Since Sour Prick got an award, I’m going to use my good rating here, and just not rate the bad beer that was also called Sour Prick at GABF. Perhaps one of the volunteers played a prank, and actually emptied a jar of pickle juice into the pitcher, added some food coloring, etc. I don’t know. As for the second tasting (what I’ll call Sour Prick Beta), the mouthfeel was medium bodied, good carbonation. I could smell the acid, but it wasn’t as strong as I expected; stronger than most lambics I’ve had, but not pickle juice strong. I couldn’t quite place the fruit flavors (pear, sour apple?). The finish included some hoppy or spicy burn to it, which was interesting.

Murky reddish brown color with just a few bubbles that make you think this has any carbonation at all. Taste is lightly tart of cherries. A bit malty. Nothing special about this beer that was surrounded by some great Lambics. A bit too thin.