Panil Barriquée (Sour)

Brewed by Panil Birra Artigianale - Birrificio Torrechiara
Style: Sour Ale
Torrechiara-Parma, Italy

A dark reddish brown body is fairly clear. Rich cherry and wood over a bit of funk. The flavor is nicely balanced between the funk-sour of the lactobacillus and the sweet, vanilla maltiness. Top-notch beer.

The foreboding nearly purple hue of Panil Barriquée glinted a rusty red in my trappist glass, a somewhat haunting presage that the thin beige film sitting above could not alleviate. On the nose, however, a far more vibrant and stimulating ambience emerge. The opulent aroma of dark caramel fuses with the succulent grape juice, vanilla, sour cherries and apple fragrances. As ostentatious as every Italian I have known, this Flemish Sour evolves an equally pugnacious character on the tongue. Grapefruit, lemon, cherries, berries, and apple juice all lend to the profuse acerbity and bitterness that obliterates on the first sip, and persists until the very last. The palate lacks a balancing sweetness that might assuage some of the puckering without erasing the subtle complexity. Sourness is not unpleasant and is a quality I do enjoy, but the Barriquée in my opinion demands a little more aging before the sharp flavors becomes more rounded and enjoyable. Vedremo, as they say...

The ebullient Italian way of life has a distinct way of taking the mundane and making it festive. Take the Italian dinner, for example, whose table is criss-crossed with mercurial debate, love songs and even a handful of food or two. Or the zest and pep the Italians demonstrate in war; in WWI the first battle of Isonzo ended in utter defeat, but the vivacious Italians repeated the very same push four more times all with disastrous results, demonstrating a non-chalance rarely seen outside the Mediterranean. Until only recently Italians, partly out of apathy and partly out of inability, retained in power a loud-mouthed, outspoken and candid politician as President who brought a much needed vigor to an otherwise stuffy European political arena (and along with it some rude, offensive and hilarious remarks). This same exuberance is expressed in Italian beer, so far as Flemish Sour Ales are concerned. My own opinion stems from the exemplary Panil Barriquée. It’s a speciously straight forward beer, packing all the anticipatory vinegar sourness while retaining a few surprising qualities that are only discovered with a little breathing and a little warmth. The murky, red color of the Panil, familiar to sommeliers everywhere, has a small trace of oakish brown, perhaps to remind drinkers of the intense aging involved in the brewing process. The head is a delicate, tan fringe that quickly fizzles away in the heat of its own pour. From the ale to my untrained olfactory comes a barrage of the sour vinegar smell, with an aggressively bullied puff of sour cherries, red wine and a ubiquitous oak. Alas, this is where the pleasures of this finely crafted beer come to an end. Each sip brought a laceration I have never known in any other Flemish Sour Ale. A great crimson wave washed over my tongue and pricked each one of my taste buds like a corrosive red tide. The delicate flavors I knew were there could not be found. I blame my own inexperience, but I did not think it would be so difficult to extricate the sweeter and deeper flavors that the Panil promised. Maybe it’s an overexertion on the beer’s part; maybe I’m unfit to handle the Panil, or maybe I’m just ill suited for the garrulous Italian attitude that fills the bottle. Whatever the ill may be, I’m mournful – not upset – that this fine Flemish Sour Ale is beyond my capabilities. I’m all too happy to see it enjoyed by those with more refined tastes, where I can acknowledge that there is a deeper concoction of beer in their glass than I’ll ever know, in the same way that there is a deeper appreciation in the Italian lifestyle than I can ever understand.

Bottled in 2005. Pours a deep brown into a tulip. No carbonation. Dark cherry notes. Red-wine-like sour cherry flavor with slight carbonation. Lasting finish. My favorite of the flemish sours.

Consumed at Monk’s Cafe, Philadelphia. This oud bruin style beer reall captured my attention with it’s combination of light effervescence and complex flavors of cherries, oak, pinot noir, and cider. The Belgians should start to worry that such good beers are being brewed outside of Flanders. Maybe not as aggressive as New Belgium La Folie, but the perfect appetizer, opening the taste buds to the possibilities of good raw-milk cheese, sausage, and other rich fatty starters. Went well with the duck spring rolls and charcuterie plate at Monk’s.

75cL bottle, thanks Marc, the Alpha King! Brown color, some head but not a bunch. The aroma is really tremendous, sweet and sour like Rodenback, plenty of acetic. The flavor is pretty sour, not too sweet. The oak is pretty pronounced. It does get sweeter as it warms and probably tastes even better. Pretty drinkable actually. Great beer if you are into bacteria! And I definitely am!

2005 bottle. Enjoyed on 5/19/06 in my Rodenbach glass. Pours a deep red with a brown tint and small, fizzy, beige head. Lasting cover, some lacing. The aroma is sour cherries, light vanilla, vinous, light notes of barnyard and leathery Brett. Flavor is fairly dry with a good dose of acidity that hits you squarly in the jaw. Plenty of sour cherries, slightly vinous, some roasted notes, bits of caramel, cola, some citrus coming in toward the end, lemons. The mouthfeel is spritzy and light, but never thin, with a lasting sour-bite finish.

Dark brown body with red shine, huge fast disappearing head leaving little laces; very sour deep complex nose, very sour and just very nice (it has some very faint sugary metallic and a little oxidation to it); quite sour well balanced initial body, fades quite fast, it has quite some length in a cherry finish that becomes a bit cow shit like very late, but the sour part disappears to fast. Quite disappointing, but I had very, very high expectations. Thanks again, again, again Jeppe!