Bristol Skull & Bones Cuvee

Brewed by Bristol Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA

(GABF05) Murky brown body with minimal head. Aroma is moderately sweet, cherry, light sour. Taste is moderately sweet, cherry, light oak, quite tart. Light-medium body.

(Draught) Pours a murky dark brown body with a small beige head. Aroma of mustiness, sour cherries, horse blanket, and leather. Flavor of sour cherries, plastic, earth, some vinegar, and brett with a dry finish.

Cloudy chestnut, mostly diminishing off-white head. Sweet/tart nose, fruity and vinous in a woody way, browsing its way through cinnamon and nutty complexities. Well developed tart character, with the cherries on the front line, but letting room to less adequate apple vinegar and dulled pears as the finish closes by. Light-medium body, quaffable, moderately high carbonation, sharp palate.

Dark muddy brown colored body with a medium dark tan head. To be honest the nose is pretty terrible: tangy old leather, damp, rotting wood, some milk and yogurt lacto notes... similar qualities tasted, but with more of a soggy bran muffin and stale bread character than the nose. Some chemical-cleaner notes of cherry pits and wood, oxidized throughout... seems like there’s either something wrong here or they just don’t understand how to go about making a Flemish-style sour ale.

The body of this ale is a thick, purplish brown with a head that... Wait, I had no head on mine! The aroma wasvery sour dark cherries, kind of funky with wet hay and woody characteristics. Thick and creamy, it delivered a face-puckering sourness, tart with cherries and spices. The finish was oddly bitter-sweet-sour. I like.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eve Third Annual Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers, Chicago, IL 11/12/2005<font size=-1>

Sampled at the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer at Goose Island, Nov.11, 2005. Dark brown with no head. Classic horseblanket and barnyard in aroma, with sour cherries. Classic flemmish sour with vinegar and griotte cherries in mouth. Very nice and smooth, rich bodied. A nice discovery.

Fobab 2005: Deep purple hue with an oily cling. Wow what an aroma! Brett, tannic oak, and cherry come to the forefront big time with just a touch of vanilla wafers, dusty esters, and some belgian sugar. The taste follows suit with that nice acidic fruit and wild yeast nature supported by an french oak tannic background. Some heather, wild flower, and clove hints. The feel is puckery and dry on the finish, lively and sharp upfront. An outstanding brown sour, I love it and the best I had this day.

Draught. Pours dark brown with a medium frothy tan head that subsides quickly. Cherry and oak aromas with a malt nose (grain and meal). Tart cherry flavor with oak and yeast notes (horse blanket). Light acidity and medium lasting flavor. Dry and medium bodied clean palate.