Cascade Drie Zwarte Pieten Sang Noir

Brewed by Cascade Brewing @ Raccoon Lodge
Style: Sour Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

draft @ Uber - pumped to get another try of this in Seattle after Ron gave us samples straight from the keg last November; the little brother of the now beefy Sang Royale; same rich and thick cherries with this one giving off some whiskey notes; same cherry and malt bomb and just barley trumped by the port version

On tap at Uber’s Cascade Night (and Brouwer’s Sour Fest). Pours dark reddish brown with a nice beige head. Huge tart and slightly funky aroma of cherry and wood with tobacco emerging as it warms. The cherries really worked well with this one. Medium bodied and bubbly with a nice lingering tart finish. My favorite of the Fest.

@ Uber Tavern’s meet the brewer night. Hazy reddish brown color with a light tan head. Heavenly aromas of tart lemon, cherry vanilla, whisky and wood; great nose. Light carbonation with a prickly mouthfeel. Sweet n’ sour flavors of tart lemon and cherry with earthy wet wood, with rich, smooth whiskey vanilla, and a toasted caramel maltiness. Great sour beer right here.

Draft pour @ Brouwer’s Sour Fest 2009. Deep purple and brown colored body with a small tan ring of carbonation. Thick and rich, somewhat musty with a dark plum and slightly charred currant character. Tart, dried black cherries show up across the middle, where it turns somewhat gritty and dirty, developing a faint level of roughness and brashness across the palate. Full and frothy texture, lactic and dry/tannic, but ultimately falls short of what I would call great. Close but didn’t nail it with this one.

Draft at Sourfest 2009 at Brouwer’s. Pours a nice black/dark burgundy with a solid tan head and nice lacing. At first, cherry and grapes dominate the sweet aroma with hints of blackberry. But as it warmed, a great wood began to dominate. This was a nice sweet beer balanced incredibly well with the sourness. This had a little wild carbonation but a nice long sour finish. As this got warmer, the beer became more and more complex as various flavors came out. This was the highlight of Sourfest for me (and I sampled it three times throughout the day to make sure) and one of the best beers I’ve ever had.

I got to try this one a couple of times. Fist was courtesy of Ron at the Lodge (thank you Ron!) and second time was on draft at Uber. This one pours a beautiful deep dark red, almost purple with a decent size but loose head that is off white with lavender tints to it. Nose is of tart cherry (skin, pit, stem and all), lacto sour and woody notes. This one has carbonation that is nice and lively and then just deep natural cherry with lacto sour notes. Nice depth in the body of this one and just a lot going on. I could drink glass, after glass, after glass of this!

One liter flip top shared by theisti, super awesome, never thought I would get to try this, thanks Tim (and I guess DA as well). It pours a beautiful dark red and purple color. It is a very different color, were their different berries used, did the wine leach into the beer, or what? Aroma is super strong and really cool with boozy chocolate, cherry chocolate, and light purple grape (a bit of Welcher’s). Taste is again boozy chocolate cherry with lots of tart berries at the end. It’s all a mix up of crazy berries, strong sweet flavors, and alcohol but it works like a great American experiment. It’s also easy drinking, maybe even a bit too light, not much residual sugars leftover.

1 liter hand bottle filled by DA at the brewery. Pour is cloudy deep brown ruby, colors nicely swirled. Not much head to speak of, whats there is off white. Aroma of red wine, dark chocolate, pepper, oak woodiness. Ton of stuff going on, but all really well melded. Taste is red wine grapes, cherry sour, blackberry, currant, black pepper. The oak woodiness is present, and a nice base to the varied flavors. This beer has a lot going for it. So much flavor, so much going on, so melded. Palate is perfect, mouth coating, perfectly balanced, beautiful. Wonderful beer, thanks Derek.