Brodies: Pineapple Sour (England: Fruit Berliner Weisse: 3.7% ABV)
Visual: Hazy yellowed fruit juice. White dust at the edges.
Nose: Juicy pineapple. Tart. Apricot. Light pencil shavings. Stewed banana.
Body: Tart and fresh. Gooseberries. Pineapple. Custard cream biscuits. Cheeseboards. Peach.
Finish: White grapes. Pineapple. White wine.
Conclusion: A pineapple sour? Odd but considering how tart Berliner Weisse beers can be and how tart pineapple can be you can see where they could work. Which makes it very interesting that while this beer is tart it is surprisingly easy going. The beer is around the fresh fruit juice level of tartness rather than the insane Berliner Weisse kick. It is nowhere near the sharpness level that the Cherry Sour brought for example.
There comes a cheeseboard element after while, which gives a much needed bit of body. This is a fine bit of craft to the beer and calls to the similar lambic tricks. Overall the beer is very tastebud cleansing, but brings with it a nice amount of sweetness. It seems very juicy in its expression of the pineapple, a good twist for what can be a challenging fruit. I think in some ways the closeness of the fruit and the beer styles flavours can work against it rather than benefit. When they are too in tune it can make the actual flavor seem slightly thin rather than bolster it and all you get left is the freshness. The more welcome times are when you get more apricot and peach rather than pineapple coming through.
Despite that it does make for a good wakeup call beer, and can cut through hoppier beers drunk before it. Taken for itself it is ok but doesn’t rock my world. As a mid session pick me up and palette cleanser it is quite spot on. So not their best sour but not bad.
Background: Drunk at Brewdog Bristol when that had a Brodies tap takeover night. My London friends rave about Brodies beer and I try to get hold of them when I can. A great thing about the Brodies night was they had the owner and brewer down to answer questions and chat (and in my case, kindly agree to be photographed). It was fun to be able to talk about the beers and brewing background, and added a great amount to the night. Thanks to everyone involved in the event. I also drank the Brodies Raspberry Sour but didn’t get a chance to review, it was by far a better beer and well worth a try. As a sucker for an oddity I had to give the Pineapple version the review.
