Captain Lawrence Cuvee de Castleton

Brewed by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Pleasantville, New York USA

Light hazy gold, large head that makes a lot of noise and dies really quickly, leaving nary a wisp behind. Nose is first of brett, champagne yeast, and some vague sparkling light fruits. There’s a burst of white grape, it’s definitely that and it’s really developed, one of the strongest fruit characters in any beer I’ve had. The oak is really nice and subtle, perfectly dry. Prickly mouthfeel. The finish is ridiculously long -- on an aside I went to the release and had a single sip out of a glass there, and I literally could still taste the flavor evolving 20 minutes into the car ride home. Really a pefect, wonderful sour character, not overly so, but really elegant and refined. Bright, clean, crisp, really awesome.

Bottle from PUB’N via Capone’s. Pours chill hazy gold with medium, fixxy off-white head and a lot of carbonation streams. Nose is earthy sour mashy, grapey, with notes of pear, yeast, spice, and citrus. The palate is lively, dry champagny, not as complex as Cantillon offerings, but not as mouth puckeringly tart either. Gets a bit sweeter as it warms, with more grapey flavor, and remaninign champagny throughout. Very good, but not worth the very high black market price I paid. I like the CL Smoke from the Oak and Winter Warmer much better.

Tasting at PP C-Bad, thanks to wetherel! Cloudy light yellow hue with no head. Nose is super sour tartness, apples, pears, grapes, oak, pepper, spices. Taste is mouth-puckering sweet tarts, transition to sweet grapes and light fruits, finishes dry and bubble like champagne. Slick texture with high carbonation. Amazing sour ale with great texture and fruit presence, definitely top tier here!

Thanks for sharing a bottle, beastiefan2k. The body was hazy medium yellow. The aroma was bretty with some funky pears and cobwebned cellars. The taste was tart apricots with some hay. There was also some flowers to complement the sourness. A nice clean finish. A little boring and underwhelming.

Many thanks to iowaherkeye for bringing this bottle to his ’farewell to Iowa’ tasting. Batch 2. Poured a hazy yellow color with a white head that reduced to a soapy ring. Attractive aroma of buttery oak, white wine vinegar, and a dash of spices. There was mild acidity up front that waned toward the end giving way to some delicate sweetness. Tasted of lime peel, pale malts (ala cereal grain), unripe apple, and a splash of vinegar. Almost Key Lime Pie-ish. Delicious.

Lemon yellow pour with a thin white head. Aroma is lemons and dust. Flavor was oak, grape tannins, lemon, limes, pepper, and a bit of funky dust. Lightly sour finish.

Thanks to Ken for this one. Cloudy yellow, no head. Aroma has a sour lemon note followed by a hot spicy pepper quality. Flavor is not tart enough for me but has a nice lemony touch, yeasty spice bite, vinous notes, and pineapple. Not quite dry enough.

Bottle. Aroma is funky brett, wonderful fruitiness, light oak. Taste is light fruit, onion skin, funky barnyard, and a pleasant sourness. Very nice!