Oskar Blues The Duke

Formerly brewed at Oskar Blues Grill & Brew
Style: Sour Ale
Lyons, Colorado USA

Pours with a hazy, deep, murky amber color that is basically brown. It is topped by an initially two-finger thick, brownish tan colored head. The aroma is a nice mix of sour notes, fruit character and malt; hints of malt vinegar, caramelized malt sugars, browned-crusty sourdough-bread, sour cherries, tart plums, a touch of chalky-dusty malt are what is most noticeable. Towards the end of the aroma the malt character really starts to focus and become a bit more amplified.

Quite tart tasting, even a bit of a shock to my palate, despite that I was expecting it to be tart. It seems pretty devoid of sweetness after the first sip; subsequent sips confirm this for the most part, but there is a hint of malt sweetness that peeks through every now and then. The beer finishes with quite an astringent note; I am not quite sure where it is coming from. It almost seems to be a mix of an off fermentation character and too much roast malt (though I would certainly not characterize this beer as being roast-like); it seems to almost seem mint-like at times, though I am not sure where I am getting this. While being perceived as quite dry, this beer still manages to have a fullness to the body, it is almost even lightly chewy; there is lots of malt character left untouched in this beer. The malt flavors become more noticeable as my palate gets used to the sourness; chewy caramelized grain notes, browned-crusty-bread flavors, toasted malt, and even some dry biscuit-like notes play a role here. The malt and touch of sweetness, in combination with the sourness, even contribute a sort of cherry-like flavor to this brew.

This is a pretty good interpretation, it is a little rough around the edges (especially towards the finish), but this may be a product of it needing to age a bit more. I really like that this beer has a heft to it still, I like my sour browns to have a certain weight to them as they hit the tongue and this one certainly has that. I still can’t quite get past that sensation of menthol in the finish; I am not sure why it is here, but there is something definitely to it. The more I dwell on it, the more I think that the "off" flavor in the finish could really somehow derived from a dusty, toasted, grain character of the type found in a toasty, brown ale. This is actually quite a bit more malty than one would expect from a proto-typical Flemish sour brown, and while it does not completely work, I still greatly appreciate the malt depth that is still in this brew. This is definitely one of those brews where both the aroma and flavor get better as you work your way through it; for that I am grateful to have a 16oz pour of this brew.

Bottle shared by notalush. Clear brown beer with a thin head. Lovely nose with lots of woody character Earthy and leathery with a soft cherry character as well. Flavour is quite dry with a soft tartness throughout. Baked cherry and a light raspberry tartness. Leather and lactic acid with a juicy fruitiness on the back. Nice stuff.

Hand bottle from jimbowood (thanks, man!) - according to goldtwins, this "lost something in the bottle," but I’m not really sure how much was there to begin with - slighty funky aroma, with wood rather prominent, and a somewhat metallic character in the background that carries over into the flavor - sour, with a hint of saltiness and rather high acidity - the fruit and wood interplay do remind me somewhat of rodenbach grand cru, but this lacks the balance and complexity of that beer - fruit, wood, sourness, with the lingering taste of copper, and that’s about it - IMO, this is another over-rated Oskar Blues brew.

Hand bottle acquired in trade from jimbowood (thanks!). Poured a deeper and cloudy brownish-red with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of cherries, oaky woodiness, and funky. Tastes of sour cherries, vinegar, wood, and earthy. I would lick my lips a minute later and they were still sour.

(Hand-bottled, courtesy of jimbowood) Pours a hazy reddish brown body with a spare white head. Aroma of sour cherries, earthiness, oak, and light toastiness. Flavor of sour, balsamic vinegar, and apple with an aggressiveness towards the back of the tongue which ends dry.

Courtesy of Jimbowood. Pours an amber/tan with a foamy white head. Smells of vinegar, oak, some sugar, some cherries. Tastes of cherries and very tarte, but lacking in any complexity found in many other examples of the style.

Redish brown, with a tan head. Aroma is sour cherries, funk, oak, and some caramel. Flavor is sour cherries, apples, and oak. Another nice one from Oskar Blues. Thanks to jimbowood for this bottle.

Draft @ Aroma’s. Notes of sour cherries, oak, and a nice, spicy hop finish. A really drinkable sour beer not over the top w/ sourness. Reminescent of Cuvee de Tomme.