Thirsty Bear Aged Cherry Ale

Brewed by Thirsty Bear Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
San Francisco, California USA

Not sure if this should be considered a sour ale as that is how the bartender positioned it, noting it has also been mixed with their Golden Hallucination Triple. This brew was a lovely chestnut brown with good head. Enticing smells of cherry, wood barrel, bourbon, and marsala. Lovely woody and mild marsala flavors with a subtle tinge of cherry. Dryish, woody merlot finish. Superbly crafted.

On tap at Celebrator 20th Anniv. party in Oakland. Supposedly 7.2%. Dark brown...slight malt, bourbon, cherry aroma and taste. Also some marichino cherry tastes & minerals. Not a big body but interesting...I’d like to rate it again.

Draft. Aged in bourbon barrels with some brett added. Mahogony beer with a slight light tan head. Light bourbon. l;ight cherry aroma. Light cherry flavor with light malt, light grassy flavor with a bit of mineral tones. Somewhat lighter bodied. lingering cherry, mineral, grass. Almost seems like the base was a lager - thought that starts to fade as you drink more. A slight bit of brett in the nose, but almost nothing in the taste. Needs a bit more time to develop into something decent - a shame it’s being served now as there is potential, but it ends up being a watse. This is one of the first beers that I really want to rant on. It’s completely being rushed to serve instead of being left to become what could be a very good beer. Ah well, it only brings thirsty bear down another notch and showing that the care for the beer just isn’t there.