Alpine Beer Company Chez Monieux

Brewed by Alpine Beer Company (CA)
Style: Sour Ale
Alpine, California USA

Sour beers typically are not my thing, but this beer has one of the coolest names ever. Pours a reddish amber with some white head. Fruity aroma that is uber sour. Flavor of cherries and vinegar. Still a sour beer and not my thing, but this one does not taste as much like salad dressing as some of the other ones I have had. Update: Tried this one again at DLD ’09 and liked it again. I looked at my rating and realized it’s too low. Corrected on 5/23/09.

22. Thanks, Riverside! Pretty corny name but it will be OK. Crystal clear pinish red. Headless, laceless. Sour tart pie cherries and red wine grapes on the nose. Sticky, slightly thick body. Cherry, watermelon mid-palate. Interesting enough, and well-enough made, but not a real creative inspiration.

VRBT. Took me a minute to figure out what this had been. Lightly pink appearance. Flavor and aroma match, cherry and brett, with a nice sour cherry finish. Very nice Belgian character. Well done.

Bottle. Pours a light pink color with fizzy lacing. Funky red wine, oak and cherry aroma that is released with carbonation. Barnyard and skunk are well noticeable. Straightforward flavor of tart cherry and sour yeasts make things simple and easy to drink. Oak wood finish is a bit more restrained in the flavor, but with a pleasant medium strength sourness to round things out. Pretty good.

Sample at the Hopsnobbery Collective tasting on 12/10/08: Bottle from South Bay Drug in Imperial Beach, CA. It took someone saying the beer name out loud for me to get the pun. The beer pours almost like a carbonated Rosé wine, but a little more orange. Minimal white head and only a thin top ring of lacing on the glass. Aroma of oak and tart cherries. Medium-bodied and moderately sour with tart cherry, oak and earthy malt flavors. The finish is sour cherry with a tart fruit aftertaste. Overall the beer is pretty solid, although I am not sure it warrants the $20 price tag compared to some of the other Sour Ales out there.

Bottle from South Bay Drug. Coppery red color with minimal white head. Nice aroma of sour cherry skins. Medium body with frothy carbonation. Flavor is acetic, cherry, lightly funky. A bit of wood later. Then it shows cherry pit. Astringent. Sour. Mildly funky. That’s the finish. Quite pleasant. Good kriek, though rather pricey.

25 oz bottle. Pours a clear orangish body with a very thin fizzy off-white head that completely vanished within seconds. Pretty nice nose, cherry skins and pits, oak, brett, minimally sour, but no real suggestions that this is a real lambic, no cobwebs or super funkiness. The flavor is a really nice balance of fruit and bretty funk making this really nicely drinkable. Not tart or even sour really, just a nice bretty funk. I like the oaky undertones, and the almost almond like pitty notes. I don’t like the almost complete lack of sour and tart notes, the short finish, and the slightly thin delicate body. Mouthfeel is fairly dry with fizzy light carbonation. Finishes too quickly, it really just feels a little too loose and thin. It’s a good effort, I like where the base of this was, but it’s not quite there. Unfortunately, I don’t think that any age will make it any better. Get some more funky lambic yeast going on in here!

Pours reddish copper, lots fo carbonation, and a flat white head. Vinuous cherry nose, some oak and malt, almost like a cherry cobbler. Pucker-type sour as opposed to the bretty-dank sour. Good blalance of the sour cherry and sweeter malt, tempered by the oak and vanilla flavors. A bit medicinal at times, but not enough to ruin the beer. Always a treat with Alpine.