The Skeg

This beer has a tremendously beautiful aroma – strong pineapple, tangerine, stone fruit (especially apricot), and lemon. As would be expected for a sour, there is a noticeable but pleasant lactic sourness, and a low brett aroma. Unlike most sours, there is also a noticeable but light floral fresh hop aroma. However, in many ways the flavor of this beer diverged from its aroma – while the floral hops are still evident in the flavor, along with plenty of lemon zest, nectarine, and pine, the sourness is at much lower levels than I would expect given the aroma and the style. Showing a strong oak presence, oak tannins give a somewhat astringent and puckering mouthfeel. In my glass, this astringency distracted from the overall experience of the beer, making it challenging to savor the interesting fruity and floral elements of the beer. To summarize, while the aroma was intriguing and complex, the low levels of sourness and the moderate levels of oak tannins made it difficult to enjoy the delicate aromatics that make sour beers so delightful.