Livery Cask Aged Belgian Cherry Wheat

Formerly brewed at The Livery
Style: Sour Ale
Benton Harbor, Michigan USA

On tap at the Livery on 4/28/04: Pours a slightly hazy copper mahogany with a thin, wispy off-white head. Sweet cherry candy aroma has a touch of oaky tartness. Body starts with a sweet maraschino cherry flavor nicely balanced with some earthy malts and fruity tartness. The cask gives a pleasant complexity throughout, a nice Flemish sour.

Draft sample at the brewery. Poured hazy reddish copper with an average fizzy off-white head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Moderate complex sweet tart citrus aroma. Medium to full body with a sticky texture and soft carbonation. Medium sweet flavor with a medium sweet sour finish of moderate duration. Solid complex beer thaty would go well with spicy food or a good cigar.

On tap and served in snifter: Slight hazed multihued coppery and red highlights that is lightly oily and has little head. The aroma has notes of green apple and ripened cherry, boozy, oaky, olde ale oxidation with bready malts and grassy hops in support.

The taste is really twangy at first with a tart bite followed by a woody dryness and some bourbon undertones. The is a sublime wheat background throughout. The feel is warming, dry yet biting, moderately carbonated.

I like it, started hot but really smoothed out. A yummy sour brown! (Also on growler at DL release day)

On tap at the Great Taste of the Midwest. Poured an ugly caramel brown showing very little activity. Nose was quite full, with tart cherries, lightly-smoked toasty caramel, and butterscotch. Cherries, oak, light smoke, and vanilla bourbon in the flavor, with a long, tart cherry finish. A bit slick on the palate with very low carbonation... Rather solid overall.

Draft @ The Livery: Clear red amber color with a thin off-white head. Big tart cherry aroma. Notes of woody tannins and sugary candy. The aroma was sweet and thick. the flavor was very nice. Good balance with the cherry fruit, tartness and wood (on the finish). I can drink a lot of this.

Draught. At 2006 Michigan Brewers’ Guild Festival. Opinions were very mixed about this one, but it worked for me. Cloudy ruby-orange-brown with a small off-white creamy head. Aroma of sour cherry, slightly sour white wine, masses of oak, and booze - really tickled the old nostril hairs. Even more oak character in the taste, again sour cherry and sourish off-dry white wine, lighter alcohol presence, and yeast. Average body, very woody and atringent mouthfeel - a little flat - and a tangy linger - my notes: "This really works!"

Michigan Brewers Festival 2006. Hazy red amber body with a small off white head. Lightly woody aroma over mild cherries. Flavour of mildly sour cherries with a backdrop of wood from the barrel. Average palate. I’m not big on cherry flavours so I am slightly biased against it to start with. Needs a bit more body and flavour oomph to complement the barrel influence. This shows much more balanced wood than does their scotch ale sampled previously. Not bad – add a few points if you like cherry.

Draught at 2006 MBG Summer Festival. Pours a hazy orange-copper with a spare diminishing off-white head. Very nice aroma with lots of oak (whiskey or bourbon-ish) along with sour cherries, malt and hops. Flavour follows the aroma but is a little more subtle then the aroma suggests. Average body, I found it a little thin. I liked it, it’s definitely an interesting beer.