NOTES: 750 ml bottles poured into Cigar City Snifters.
STYLE:
Hordeum: Bottle says “Ale with natural flavors”. Very descriptive.
Slouch: “Ale with black currants, locally foraged lemon leaves, hibiscus, cane sugar, and elderberry flowers.” But this is a dark sour ale.
Hordeum: You say “locally foraged” I say “stolen.”
ABV:
Slouch: 9.96%, also known as “10%”
Hordeum: 9.96%, They aren’t “Dogfishing” it up to 10%.
APPEARANCE:
Slouch: Turbid chestnut. It’s really an impressive looking Dark Sour Ale. If that kind of thing impresses you, of course.
Hordeum: Very cloudy and dark.
HEAD:
Hordeum: Two fingers of pinkish tan foam. Very fine carbonation.
Slouch: Pretty impressive head retention for the style.
LACING:
Hordeum: I doubt anyone cares.
Slouch: About what?
NOSE:
Slouch: Get a whiff of that sour… An earthy vinegar backbone with floral highlights.
TASTE:
Hordeum: This is a lot better than the Seabass…
Slouch: Agreed. Vuja De is the sense that you’re always reviewing dark sour ales from Cigar City. Initial assault is tart cherries on your tongue, quickly followed by a peppery bite. The stolen lemon leaves cut the sour nicely, like lime juice in a Gimlet. Who drinks Gimlets? Badasses, of course.
Hordeum: And their grandsons.This is a spicy beer. Or that’s the cajun seasoning on my cheap steak. I use the work steak liberally.
Slouch: It has this unique clean finish, a dryness that I don’t often encounter in sour beers. This thing is pretty damn good.
Hordeum: It has some hops to it as well. The bitterness mixes with the acidity for an interesting effect.
Hordeum: We have gone on way to long without mentioning a salad dressing.
MOUTHFEEL:
Slouch: Very spritely for a dark sour. Pretty much perfect.
Hordeum: I call bullshit. Spritely?
Slouch: Yeah, effervescent. Like Sprite.
DRINKABILITY:
Hordeum: The alcohol is very well hidden on the pallet.
Slouch: It will probably be less well hidden in the podcast tonight.
Hordeum: Despite the huge strength, this beer is more drinkable than its little cousin, the Seabass. Granted, that beer was kind of a trainwreck.
Slouch: As it warms the booze is starting to waft out of my snifter. Or snift out of my wafter.
RATING:
Slouch: They say: “Sour is the new hoppy.”
Hordeum: 3.5 Sours then??? In a few years, readers will look back and see how ahead of the times we are. Like Trent Reznor.
Slouch: Why was Trent Reznor ahead of his time?
Hordeum: I don’t know. People just always say that.
Slouch: Speaking of things that were ahead of their times…
Hordeum: In college, Slouch’s bladder was frequently ahead of the rest of him, which was asleep.
Slouch: But basically everybody I lived with did the same thing, or worse, so it didn’t seem like that big a deal.
Hordeum: “If peeing your pants is cool, then I’m Miles Davis.”
Slouch: Also ahead of his time.
ALEHEADS 
This sounds like a successful version of the Lips of Faith Vrieden. A red sour ale with hibiscus and endive (I kid you not.). Unfortunately, the vrieden tasted strongly of hibiscus and only slightly of sour. Definitely a one-off fail (no more than 1.5 hops).
Overall, I’ve been intrigued yet frightened of the lips of faith series. $12 or so a bottle is a lot for some weird stuff I probably won’t like.
The subject of gimlets must, of course, be approached with reverence. It must also be mentioned that the use of key limes liberated from the neighbors trees were crucial ingredients. Maybe analogous to the above mentioned lemon leaves.
Great tasting note. Love the double up. The rating is actually 4 hops but don’t worry about it.
Also, the La Folie is worth trying Herr if you can grab it. It is probably the most sour sour beer I’ve ever tried. Worth a shot for sure.
Got a La Folie- sourest f’n beer I’ve ever had. It’s so vinegary it made my stomach cramp up.
Herr:
Unfortunately, sours tend to be expensive because of the storage time needed to age them. Russian river does them true justice and they are readily available out in the NW, but they run $12-16 a bottle.