Captain Lawrence Rosso e Marrone

Formerly brewed at Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Pleasantville, New York USA

One of the best beers I have had in a very long time. The thing dances on the tongue with perfect sourness mixed so well with the grapes and oak....extremely complex. Utterly delicous. Maybe perfect. Need another bottle to confirm.

In short: Sourness, oak, cherries, funkiness and red wine dominate in this ultra-intense Flemish-Sour interpretation. Fantastic.
How: From the bottle at Boston Extreme Beer Fest 2009. Multiple samples. Many many. Many. And then some more. And one last one for the road.
The look: Slightly cloudy (if first serving of a bottle) to totally opaque (if last serving of a bottle) redish-amber body topped by a small beige head.
In long: I could smell this beer from 10 feet away. Intensely funky, oaky and cherry nose. Taste is intense. First, compared to most intensely sour/acidic beer this one has a well malted body. A whole lot of cake-like malts are the foundation an array of flavours including caramelized sour cherries, sour oak socked in red wine, earth, more wood, barnyard funk, vinegar acidity, more. Similarity could be drawn to a less complex but sharper and more intense La Folie. This is not a session beer, this is the most intense and one of the most complex Captain Lawrence creation so far. This beer may not be better than sex but sliced bread is in serious trouble.

This is hands-down the best sour that I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting. So complex and delicious! The flavor keeps changing on the back of the tongue for a solid 30 seconds after you take a sip.

Bottle thanks to Mudpuppet (BA)!
I’ve been chasing this one since NYBeer joked about the unwashed beer nerds, piled up high in the back seats of each others’ cars, rubbing their hands greedily and, with an evil grin, successfully growling "Rosso!" to themselves as they sped off together from the release with their allotments. This was of course mentioned while we drank and hoarded all the rarities we could muster at the Southampton release on the very same day.

Slightly opaque mahogany, tan bubbles become a thin white film. The nose has supreme balance and reminds of a tart Sinner’s ’08: strong citrus, grape, cherry and wood, light vanilla and brown sugar. Flavor begins slightly astringent with the heavy sour cherry notes (this doesn’t bring in the fresh grape and lemon or faint malt as well as Castleton), more wood than the flavor, light balsamic and citrus. Then comes the awe inspiring fresh grape and more red wine, strong towards the finish and the two combining to impart a juicy note that blasts the mouth right before it goes all dry and puckering. Long-lasting grape notes that dance on the wine barrel. I tried to be objective here, even said I’d keep it low just because it was rare and a sour, but in the end I’m just another nerd that loves rare beer and gets nerdy in its presence. Rosso!

Pours beautiful reddish orange with no head. The nose is citrus tart, cherry sweet, toasted oak and a bit of funk. The flavor matches, with an incredible lasting oak finish. Smooth on the palate, yet slightly acidic and lively.

Bottle. Wow- this is actually quite a bit better than the keg I had this past summer. The extra time has really allowed this to become even more sour and way more refined to a beautiful beer. Pours a mostly clear medium coppery amber with an ok thin head and low carbonation (surprised this thing carbonated since it is so strong and with its rediculously low pH). Aroma is sharp tart cherry, some nice medium to high acetic spike to the nostrils, black cherry skin, some pit, red wine vinegar, tannic and just smells like a very powerful La Folie or something similar. Awesome raw acidic flavor, with tons of acetic acid, but not too crazy - still incredibly drinkable- with its refinement and complexity- more fruit skin and astrignetn pits, tannic, and just sour as hell at the end. Prickly yet enjoyable mouthfeel from the acidity- and the carbonation is pretty good- wouldnt even want it to be higher. I really wasnt that impressed when I first had it and may have given it a high 3’s over the summer- but damn it is fucking good now, and when this is released it is going to go through the roof. Insanely good.

Bottle split two ways. Hazy copper in color with some red highlights. Small off white head. Aroma is very powerful- sour cherry, earth, tannins, acetic acid/vinegar wood, a good amount of horseblanket funk, as well as some cheesy funk at times. I could seriously just keep my nose in the glass without taking a sip for 15 minutes. Taste is just as good as the aroma- An explosion of tart/sour cherries, earthy, red wine vinegar, a good amount of oak, earth, and pleasant funk. Also has some nice wood and fruit tannins. A good amount of sourness throughout the taste, and it gets pretty strong in the finish, but it’s not over the top.

Bottled. Hazy amber colour, small white head. Aroma is sweet wood, some caramel, sugar, brett as well as mild herbal notes. Flavour is very sour fruity and wooden. Mild notes of barnyard and some berries as well. Very pleasant flavour!