Cascade Sang Royal

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

Bottle at Paul’s place for Kan’s visit. Missed this at Where the Wild Beers Are, so I was glad to see it. Pours a hazy and murky crimson hued brown. Funk, soft stone fruit, sweetness. Light sourness, old fruit. Delicious sourness and tannins.

Aroma is sour cherries, a swirl of vanilla and spices with a cherry pit/woody finish.The flavor doesn’t seem as complex as the aroma, it’s a bit two dimensional with sour cherries and light vanilla notes, still quite tasty, though (looking back on this, I am totally nitpicking here, for the style, this is shown up only by very, few beers). Higher abv gives it some weight on the palate which is counterbalanced deftly with the champagne-like carbonation. Nice balance of tartness and light cherry sweetness. Very nice beer.

750ml bottle. A very well done sour ale. Reminiscent of Consecration. Kickass dark malt/cherry/soaked wine barrel aroma. Little acetone, and plenty of tart acetic and very tart cherry skin. Tons of sharp barrel notes as well. Pours dark brown/red with a lasting dark, off-white head. My notes are pretty shoddy for this one, but read as follows: kickass flavor! awesome barrel/tart fruit/dark malt. Fruit, barrel and malt in excellent unison. Plenty, but not overbearing acetic notes as well. Lively carbonation with a very pleasant, balsamic finish. Excellent stuff. Thanks Todd!

GABF ’09. This is the best of the Cascade offerings that I was able to try. Lovely deep red color with a medium, loose, light pink head. Aroma is sweet and earthy with ripe cherries, dark sourness, and a hint of sweet red wine. Flavor is sweet-tart with a lot of freshness in addition to some barrel-aged oxidative characteristics. Cherry pit flavors (a combination of fresh cherries and port barrels) are predominant and contributes a slight tannic quality to the body as well. Everything is smooth and balanced, deftly hiding the alcohol contents, and making for a very refreshing drinking experience.

750ml corked and caged bottle bomb. This sucker was so pressurized, the cork blew the cage right off of the collar and I took a bath! I managed to salvage it for immediate drinking, and boy am I glad I did, because this beer rocks. The pour yields a deep, dark, garnet-mauve colored body, nice and cloudy, with a frothy, khaki colored head. Tattered, broken cobweb lacing coats the glass well. The aroma shows like an imperial Flemish red, with plenty of lactic tartness, semi-sweet cherry, vanilla laden oak, and a dark and fruity malt base. Deeper inhalation reveals the port wine character, residual black cherry and berry sweetness fighting their way through the lactic acidity. The flavor hits with a biting sourness up front, fermented cherry showing strong, transitioning into sweeter blackberry notes with loads of oak and worn leather, then diving right back into tart cherry and fine Balsamic vinegar on the finish. It’s a pretty intense roller coaster ride, going from sour to sweet and then sour again. The woody oak really concentrates on the finish, which lingers for a good while. Lively carbonation pushes everything along swiftly, the palate showing initially full and sweet, but ending up on the drier side. This is definitely the best Cascade sour I’ve had to date. Great beer......but fix the cage issue before someone loses an eye!

BAD ASS BEER! Pours a reddish brown colo with an off white head. Aroma is wonderful. cherries, oak, aged balsamic vinegar and maybe a hint of vanilla. Flavor is tart, loaded with cherries, wood, some light sweetness. Just a wonderful flavor. Really a treat. Nice job Art!

GABF 2009. Pours sparkling brown with an average, fizzy off-white head, mostly lasting with good lacing. Aroma is average malt (cookie, hay, straw), average hop (herbs), average yeast (earth) with notes of plum, cherries, wine, and wood. Medium bodied, mineral texture, average carbonation, and a sour finish. Long duration, light sweetness, heavy acidity and sourness.

750ml bottle. big thanks to kan for sharing this gem. pours murky red with off white pink head. nose is oak, vanilla, balsmic vinegar, sour cherry. a very la folie like nose. the flavors of sour cherry, balsamic, oak, vanilla, good but just not sour enough. creamy body - great texture.