Captain Lawrence Cuvee de Castleton

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

Bottle via trade thanks to badbeer on BA. Hazy golden color with a small white head that leaves just a little foam, and good lacing. Great aroma, tart with funk, honey, lemon, oak, and floral hops. Flavor is barnyard funk, honey, floral hops, spices, dry white wine, oak, and lemony bretty tartness. Nice smooth palate, only slightly acidic. Overall this is a great sour ale.

9/28/09 notes: poured at 2009 GABF, sampled on four different occasions (its that good!). For me, this along with Raspberry Eisbock were the show-stoppers. Pours a brilliant cloudy gold with a small head. Nose is funky, with a lemony acidity. Palate is buttery smooth, with a touch of effervescence that makes for a heavenly mouthfeel. Flavor actually begins a bit milder, hitting with bretty funk and “sweet” lemonade. The mid-palate is where this beer really crescendos, layering lemon zest, lemon pith, hibiscus, and oak. Comes off like a blend of mature white wine, fresh lemon juice, brett, and a good dose of age. I came away muttering “wow” over and over again under my breath!

GABF 2009: Dry, vivid fumes of muscat grape essence with nice complimenting acidity lift from the cloudy yellow liquid. Little to no lasting head. Flavors are sour yet capture everything good about the muscat grape..EVERYTHING. it’s dry, the grape flavors are vivid and inviting...there’s almost a subtle yet likable solventy funk in the finish. Damn fine.

Sampled at GABF 2009. Pale yellow pour. Aroma of barnyard funk and sour lemon. Tart, oak, cherry, and vinegary taste. An outstanding sour ale.

Batch 3. Pours a hazy golden orange color topped by a small, foamy white head that receds quickly to a thin film. The aroma is a really nice medley of fresh tart grapefruits, grape skins, and lemon. Some tart peaches, wild yeast, and oak round out the nose. It’s a very fruity and vinous smell. The flavor follows and strikes a good balance between tart fruits and lactic sweetness. Soured grapefruit, tart peaches, and muscat grapes rush forward on the flavors and the french oak really ties everything together by adding a nice vinous feel to it all. The funk is definitely there, but I could see this getting funkier over time. Medium bodied and smooth mouthfeel with fine carbonation that leads to a dry and very refreshing finish. This one is nice and tart, but not overly so which begs this to be savored. This is an awesome sour ale, one I need to attain more bottles of. I can’t wait to try this again and the other sour ales Captain Lawrence is producing.

Sampled at the ’09 RBPTE, courtesy of sonicdescent. Heavy funky nose with horse blanket and barnyard, light malt and a bit of floral hops. Sour and funky nose. Light yellow, slightly cloudy body with a diminishing off-white frothy head. Light body, thin, with heavy carbonation and a chalky finish. Heavily acidic and sour, great tartness with only light bitterness. Finish and after is tart and lightly chalky. Nice sour ale.

batch 2 thanks to kan.Hazy straw colored pour. Lavender, clove, bananna on the nose. Tart grape and soft floral spice, nice brett character.

Thanks a bunch to little breeze for sending this treat along I have been sitting on this batch two bottle for a while .I cracked it open last Thursday. Review from notes I just found. Bottle split three ways in tulip glasses. It produced a short lasting white head on a cloudy greenish yellow body. The first thing that hit me was the wonderful Bret character in the aroma along with that comes some lemon and a slight note of sour apple. Nice feel in the mouth department comes off like champagne. The flavor is reminiscent of the nose. A nice tartness reminding me of lemons and sour apples were just some of the flavors I got. This is an exceptional Wild ale reminded me of Gueuze in a lot of ways. The drinkability is right on for a sour. I will seek this one out again, by far my favorite Captain Lawrence