Cambridge Cerise Cassée

Commercial Description:
Once again a beer appears on the CBC menu which firmly expresses your iconoclastic brewers’ commitment to fly in the face of tradition, and boldly mess up the mainstream. Cerise Cassée is a complex beer in both process and palate. It begins with a unique, 3-day long sour mash of 100% of the malted barley. This very tart wort is fermented along with 300 pounds of sour cherries by several strains of CBC beer yeast, then sent downstairs to the secret dungeon – er, barrel cellar, where it ages for one year in French oak wine barrels (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay). Here it undergoes yet another mysterious process as a final long, slow fermentation takes place with microflora such as Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. Don’t let those things scare you, though, because these barrels and wild beasties of beer contribute a smoothness and significant complexity which could otherwise not be attained by “traditional” modern brewing methods. The resulting tart, amber-red ale, effervescent in its flute-shaped glass, combines aromas and flavors of sour cherries, malt, vanilla and oak tannin, and a finish that defies description in its funky-yet-balanced uniqueness. Please enjoy this beer while watching the dividing walls between tradition and innovation, between the common and the most challenging, even between beer and wine, crumble to dust as did the walls of Jericho under the breath of Joshua’s horn. Bonne chance! A la votre!