Valley Brew Decadence Grand Cru 2007

Formerly brewed at Valley Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Stockton, California USA

After sitting on a nip of this for a while from Aspidites, I got to have it on tap @ the 2nd annual stone Sour fest and this was a treta. Pours orange with a bright white head. Nose is super tart and funky. Taste is sweet, and tart and very very nice.

Draft. Rich amber beer with an off-white head. Tart, cherry aroma that’s a little bready. Woodsy, tart/sour cherry flavor with good malt presence. Lingering woodsy, tart, cherry. Medium bodied.

Steve from Valley brings yet another treat to the NorCal tasting. So delicate and smooth on the tongue, complex in the flavor and aroma with just the right amount of fruit sugar sweetness and cherry tartness. Perfect balance. Every sip lasted a full minute as the flavors evolved and delivered a true experience. More please?

From a nip, generously provided by Aspidites. This has been sitting in my fridge for probably 5 months, waiting to slowly sour up. Things have gone well. Aroma is rye bread/caraway and a light tartness, fleeting pineapple, pomegranate. Rough and gritty flavor, lots of tough, hearty breads and a clean sourness to finish. Very drinkable. Great stuff here.

From a 6oz Bottle. Generously shared by cquiroga. Pours a mostly transparent, honey gold color with brushes of ruddy copper and a finger of tight bubbled, ivory head. Fruity nose with notes of Rainier cherries, muscat grapes, and some more subtle under-ripe pear skins. There’s a restrained tart character present as well, mostly lactic, that brings out an interesting woody-white-grape-skin-tannin aroma similar to a young chardonnay, although there’s some honey and confectioner’s sugar sweet tones that keep it from being overly vinous. Medium-full bodied, lightly carbonated mouthfeel with a gentle tartness. Some light acetic flavors, but most of the acidity has more of a lactic quality. The light fruit flavors from the nose transfer nicely to the palate, especially highlighting the white grape and Rainier cherries. There’s an intriguing leathery, horseblanket brett character in there as well, but it doesn’t really develop into much additional palate complexity. Flavors of clover honey, leather, and toffee malts linger in the final smack. Pretty good overall, but I find the sweetness to be shrouding some of the sour characters a bit too much, although this is certainly understandable for a 12% beer. The brett characters seem to be especially one-dimensional, as I get the feeling the sweetness overtakes the palate before any flavors besides leather can develop. The brett presence is especially missed in the finish, although the fruit characters present are certainly satisfying. Thanks for sharing, Chris!

Thanks to EDA for sharing this at JJPM’s place over the summer. Pours a ruby red with no head. Aroma is woody with light cedar and some oak, and wet black cherry wood, light fruitiness and fruity esters, with some sourness- acetic hints. Nice lactic acid sourness in flavor but has more acetic in there, cherry pit astringency and very tannic in the end. Also reminded me a bit of red wine vinegar- old flemish red-like.

Noogfest Thanks to Beerguy101 for bringing this one to share. Firm white head over a hazy medium gold body. Typical funky, sour Belgian aroma. Lightly sweet with a sour acidic bite.

Hand botled from??? it is a secret. Poured a murky amber color. Might have gone off just a bit from the hand bottling. Still had a nice soured fruit flavor and a mild maltiness.Love to have this fresh.