Lovibonds: Brewdog: Purple Rain (England: Sour Ale: 5.8%ABV)
Visual: Bright red wine with a black cherry hue. Black cherry coloured thin head.
Nose: Red grapes. Raspberry. Sweet red wine. Cherries. Jelly.
Body: Tart. Blackcurrant. Lightly acidic apple. Red wine. Raspberry. Twigs. Sour character.
Finish: Blackcurrant jam. Raspberries. tart apple. Watermelon.
Conclusion: This basically a really fruity red wine. Those were pretty much the first words that went through my head as I sipped on this. Its a bit fresher in the fruit than most red wine I have tried, and it calls to its sour beer base as well, but the parallels with my (admittedly limited) experience of red wine is amazing.
From the deep rich colour, to the dry finish, to the mass of dark fruit – this has so many different elements that seem wine like. However , possibly due to the amount of different fruit they may have put in it, the range of fruitiness seems much different than you would expect from a wine. You get the feel of a mass of different berries and cherries, which may be the extra fruit, or may be that odd holographic flavor you get with sours.
So, how good is it? Well it is very fruity, and very well defined – It has an almost Berliner weisse base character, but that is quickly lost beneath the weight of the fruit. As of such it is very enjoyable, but admittedly does not benefit much from the beer aspect. Not exactly a huge issue, but worth mentioning.
As of such it has the tartness and sourness to challenge, and the bursting fruit to enjoy. It is a very well defined fruit beer -it lacks that unique element that would make it stand out amongst the greats, but mixes the wine, and the sheer raw fruit with panache.
The quality is high so far this year at collabfest.
Background: Beer four of COLLABFEST! By this time I was joined by friends who assisted with notes and jokes. This is a foraged fruit filled sour, which sounded too fun too miss. Despite its wine like nature, it was a complete coincidence I ended up with it in a wine glass. They had run out of standard third pint glasses. As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers. Twelve beers to go … This was easier last year when there was four less bars.
