Silver City Ale

This Silver City Ale is billed as a kettle-soured pale wheat beer. So what we are going to do is judge this beer against category 28B, Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer. This category basically looks for a sour and/or funky version of a base style beer. We are going to consider the base style to be the pale wheat ale, since a classic style is not mandatory for this category.

In the aroma I do get some light wheat aroma, as I would expect from a wheat beer. You don’t get any of the banana or clove you would expect in a hefeweizen, but keep in mind this is not a hefeweizen it’s a pale wheat beer. So don’t go looking for traditional hefeweizen attributes. So we do get the wheat, although light. There is a light lactic sour aroma, and a moderate green apple-like aroma which doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the aroma profile. Hops are present, although light and floral. There is no Brettanomyces or other “wild” character other than the lactic aroma.

The beer poured a dark yellow with a light haze, as I would expect with a wheat beer. The head was very low and had almost no retention. What was there was a light ivory in color while it lasted.

In the flavor we do get some light grainy wheat and a very light honey-sweetness. The tartness from the kettle souring is evident, as beer is moderately sour, so it’s not overly puckering. I find the sourness to be pleasant. Hop flavor is low and slightly lemony, possibly from the play with the tartness. The beer is balanced more towards the wheat malt and lactic sourness combined. Both the bitterness and hop flavors are quite low. I do feel the beer would benefit from a bit more complexity, as it feels a bit one-dimensional with the souring agent.

Mouthfeel is light in body but medium in carbonation, which I find works for this beer. There is no alcoholic warmth, no astringency, or creamy texture to the beer. A bit more textural sensation to the beer would benefit.

In the end I found the base style was OK although a bit one-dimensional. The sourness level was quite pleasant and all in all it’s a good beer. It would benefit from an addition to the grain bill, possibly a very small amount of toasted malt, and a slight boost in fruity, late-addition hops. I think the bitterness worked for the sour style, but could have used some supporting hop flavor.