Monday 24 October 2016

Beer Tasting: Crate Sour


The recent canned output from Crate, which seems to include a range of new (and perhaps one-off) recipes, has really impressed me. I don't mind the Crate core range, but it is conservative. The cans that have come out recently, on the other hand, have ventured into new territory, such as a well hopped West Coast IPA, an Amarillo single hop APA, and a Hibiscus and Passionfruit sour, which sits in front of me now.

The beer pours mostly clear gold/grapefruit pink with a creamy, receding white head. Pleasant aroma, with nips of lemon, berries, tangerine. Light sweet flavour with balanced but assertive acidity, juicy passion fruit, moderate salty bite, more lemony notes. Light bodied with average, spritzy carbonation. Cleansing and quenching on the finish, with further lemony acidity, decent acetic burn, more passion fruit, berries, hibiscus tang, tangerine, notches of white grape. There is a charming jammy undertone, but it is quite subtle and the acidity slices it off before it catches. Overall, this is a great beer, and massively refreshing. One of the best from Crate that I've had.

I purchased this beer from Offie & Toffee, which is a rather excellent little off-licence right near the Bethnal Green tube station.