Judge’s Review: 91 Rating – Snozzberries Taste Like Snozzberries by Pontoon Brewing

Mixed-Style Beer | Limited Release | United States

By Michael McGuire

Judges Rating: 91
Aroma: 22
Appearance: 5
Flavor: 38
Mouthfeel: 8
Overall Impression: 18

Snozzberries Taste Like Snozzberries by Pontoon Brewing is a complex fruit beer and was judged as a Fruit and Spice Beer (BJCP sub-style 29B). It poured bright purple and opaque into the glass, where it formed a moderate lighter purple head with modest retention. An appearance resembling carbonated grape Kool-aid is deceptive, however. Its aroma featured both intense lactic sourness and strong mixed berry (i.e., not distinctively from a single fruit) notes. The flavor began with tart fruit atop a pleasantly sour Berliner Weisse base, followed by a mildly sweet malt and fructose middle, and a calming burst of vanilla and lactose in the finish to temper any sour palate in the aftertaste. The mouthfeel featured moderate carbonation, light body, no alcohol warmth and a refreshingly fizzy berry palate at the very end. This beer’s drinkability is high due to the brewer’s skill to layer and harmonize a potentially discordant set of ingredients and flavors, and should appeal to both fruit beer and kettle-sour lovers and to drinkers who might otherwise be skeptical of them but could be pleasantly surprised by this one.