Cascade The Vine

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

Vivid white grape juice nose, sour, with a grapey sweetness binding it together. Golden in color, white head atop. The flavors were concentrated around sour grape with undertones of grape sweetness. Body was a bit thin and the finish wasn’t nearly as tight as I wanted it to be...not overly complex in any way, but clean and, well, grapey.

Smells like big foot’s dick. Deep and natural, sour grape undertones and a juicy yet dry palate.

Bottle 75cl. @ WSF.
[ Courtesy of Dedollewaitor ]. Unclear medium grey amber orange color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy grape - berry, light to moderate hoppy, perfume, moderate yeasty, soap. Flavor is moderate to light light heavy sweet and light to moderate tart bitter with a average to long duration, and a dry finish. Both aroma and flavor is a bit artificial IMO, but maybe it had a hard job, we got it together with HORAL, Cantillon Zwanze and other outstanding beers @ WSF. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20090530]

yellow body with a white head.aroma of oak,grapes,and malted barley.flavor is funk,oak,vinegar,and horses ass.

Gold with a thin white head. Aroma is funky ,light citrus, white wine vinegar. Taste is similar to the aroma. Much better then I expected.

I was a bit skeptical about this beer - a malt aged in oak barrels and then refermented with white wine grapes?!? Could have gone either way but I’m happy to report that this beer is tasty in a mouth puckering, gobstopper grape sort of way. If you like gueze style beers, then definitely grab a bottle to share with your friends.

750 ml bottle from John’s Market Place. ($16.99) Nose of grapes, oak, and tart green apples. Clear copper with a medium, off white, glass lacing head. Flavor is pepperiness, tartness, a touch of sherry, and spiciness. Excellent!

A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three-finger thick, lightly tan colored head. The head leaves a nice layer of lace on the sides of the glass as it slowly subsides. The beer is a pretty, red-stained, copper color that shows a bright copper-gold color when held up to the light. The aroma smells quite sweet, with honey notes, a floral white-grape fruitiness, plus other aromatic notes of kiwi, ripe honeydew melon and ripe green apple note. Much of the sweetness that I noticed at first actually is contributed by the huge, aromatic ripe fruit character. The ripe fruitiness is almost too much here.

As I expected from the aroma, this beer is quite dry with very little sweetness. The tartness is not overly aggressive here, in fact much of it I would guess comes from the wine grapes, though there is certainly a lactic component here. This has a tropical fruit like note here that is I find in white wines at times. The finish has a bit of astringency and tannins from oak character, there is also a touch of heat from the alcohol, but this actually hides the alcohol pretty well for its strength. I am curious what grapes were used here, with the oak it can remind me of chardonnay, but the ample fruitiness reminds me a bit more of Sauvignon Blanc or Gewurztraminer. Floral tropical fruit notes with quite a bit of ripe melon are noticeable and while not as apparent as in the nose, still manage to be noticeable despite the lack of accentuating sweetness. Spicy, astringent oak adds some structure and bite to the finish that adds balance to the up front tartness and expressive dry fruitiness.

This is a far departure from the Sang Royale I had the other day. It doesn’t have nearly the finesse or balance that that one had, but it is still pretty tasty. An interesting beer, I can see this appealing quite a bit to some people, but I don’t seem to be one of those people unfortunately.