Almanac Dogpatch Sour

Ale brewed with cherries and aged in wine barrels

This barrel-aged wild ale is named for our San Francisco neighborhood and pays tribute to the Flanders Red style of beer. Aged in wine barrels, this lightly tart ale is brewed with California Rainier cherries using a house blend of wild yeasts, bacteria and SF sourdough yeast. Pair this complex ale with ripe figs & blue cheese or seafood bouillabaisse.

3.8

373 reviews

Alameda, United States

Community reviews

4.0 375mL bottle from Beer Run. Aromas of tart cherry, lemon, shortbread cookie. Hazy orange-red with a fully lasting beige head. Dry, tart, tangy. Medium bodied.

4.0 Bottle in the garden, 2nd July 17. Pours copper, no head. Aroma is tart fruit, sour. Taste is tart and sour, lots of vineous fruit, really mouth pukering, tart cherry. Liked it.

4.4 Dégustée à température de 7 à 10°C. Corps ambre rosé intense, opaque; mousse ivoire très peu dense, savonneuse, qui fond complètement. Arômes de cerise aigre fine, fruits confits; quelque chose de floral. On retrouve tout cela en bouche avec également une acidité fruitée et boisée. Robuste sans être rustique. Bel équilibre, grande finesse. S’accorde merveilleusement bien avec un pain à la faine de châtaigne aux noisettes et aux figues.

3.5 Bottle shared at KL’s 10K rating celebration. Tart fruit nose, light bit of lactic note, some caramel. Deep orange/amber color. Tart sour fruit, peach, mild cherry, citrus squeezes, and a mild tangy finish. Thin-medium body, fairly astringent. Okay. Cherry not so evident.

3.7 Bottle, shared at my 10K rating celebration. Nose of caramel, cherry, vinegar, yogurt, vanilla. Hazy orange-amber with lace. Nice balance, medium sourness, fruit seemed a bit faded at first, but came through better as it warmed up. Bit of lactic creaminess. Smooth and crisp.

3.5 Bottle - a bit disappointing - no nose to talk about - not sour enough - not enough cherry flavour - good quality and subtly complex brew but needs amping up.

3.6 Amber color and still with a tart and yet boozy aroma. The taste is quite sour and acidic. A simple straightforward sour but enjoyable. It’s a shame these 375ml bottles are so pricey in Japan or I’d drink them more often.

3.9 375mL bottle from Carwyn Cellars. Batch no 4 Body is a dirty red stained golden colour - looks beautiful from afar - with dense white head. Yeah righto, it’s funky - whiff of acetic acid & ethyl acetate straight up hits me for six upfront, I recompose myself and the aroma reveals hard cheese, yoghurt, sour dough bread starter, amongst some vinous red fruit, cherry pip & oaken toast character. There’s good weight here, and a tremendous, slightly ropey, vinous acidity - sort of akin to a young Pinot Noir in some regard - tannic too, the texture is something intriguing. Immensely complex palate - heady acetate notes, mature washed rind, panicked horse locked in a stuffy stable, grapefruit rind/pith, Pinot Noir-esque cherry, old charred oak, blackened ripe tomato (?), sort of an unripe raspberry, blue cheese, some cut dried herbs (i dunno, lavender!?). Bracing acidity, very long on the finish yet so very easy to drink. This is quite marvellous really - every once of my winemakers mind wants to tell me this is a nightmare, but it tastes so good!

4.4 The Final Beer of my #6000 celebration (#13 of 13 - six beers on either side of 6000 and the milestone itself). Deep clear, but ever so slightly muddied ruby and almost violet hued body with a thinnish, fast-dying tan head, only about a centimetre tall. Aroma of cherries, sour grapes, oak, cedar, dry grass, funk, brett, lactic acid and a ton of mouthwatering soured fruit notes - very nice smelling and complex! Light-bodied; Biting acidic sourness up front with a lot of fruit elements, but citric acid is noticeable along with a very smooth cherry sweetness along with some raspberries, but the sour flavours hit the tongue first and leave it very nice. Aftertaste shows a bit more of a nuanced flavour with dry oak, cedar and funk noticeable, but the cherry sweetness hits through and the sourness and funk are the strongest - all derived from soured fruits and some light oak notes. Overall, a very enjoyable beer with a great sour flavour that ends nicely, slightly dry, but mouth-watering and making you immediately have another sip - a great example of the style and well worth trying if you can find it, even if you don’t like the style, since it’s a prototypical example of it. I sampled this 37,5 cL bottle purchased from Whole Foods in New York (Columbus Circle), New York on 19-December-2015 for US$11,99 sampled at home in Washington on 31-March-2017 as Beer #6006, the #13th and last of my celebration for #6000!

4.2 A 375ml bottle, Batch No.4, bottled in May 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass. It was a clear copper amber colour with a one finger off white head that dissipated quickly while leaving sparse lacing. Aromas of cherry, hard candy, wine and barrel. Tastes tart, sour cherry, red wine, acidic, vinegar and oak. Dry, medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation. Overall this was nice and refreshing with good tartness. Would be even better with even more cherries and perhaps slightly less acidity.

4.0 Sour cherries, some acetic acid, unripe apples, oak on nose; ripe melons with lighter side of caramel, medium sourness (lactic acid with a spike of acetic).

3.9 January 22, 2017. Bottle at home, batch no 4. Unclear orange amber with a small frothy off-white head. Aroma is fruity and vinous with sour cherries, light vinegar, lemon, grape skins apricot skins, oak, light sweetness with some stone fruit notes. Taste is sour, fruity, very light sweet. Medium bodied, dry, average carbonation. Finish is quite intense sour and dry with vinegar, lemon juice, cherries, light vinous. Nice one, fruity and sour but not over the top.

3.7 Bottle. Hazy orange amber pour with a small white head. Aroma is cherry, vinous notes, funk. Dry and tart flavor, fruity, cherry. Medium body with high carb level. Nice.

3.9 33 cl bottle, Batch No. 4. Murky amber-orange with small white head which dissipates to nothing. Nose is red berries, lacto yeast, acetic, vinous, vinegar, oak, barnyard. Taste is mildly tart, cherries, oak, bready-grassy yeast, vinegar. Medium body, average carbonation. Dry, tart finish. Excellent example of the style.

3.0 Bottle (Batch 4) shared at the Dec 2016 Shrewsbury Beer Exchange Group meeting in Chez Sophie. Cheers Simon for this sour puss of a beer. Poured a cloudy orange/amber, full off-white crown. Aroma was sour cherries, as was the taste: acidic and tart from start to finish.

3.9 Hazy deep rosey colored with a fast dissipating head. Deep rosey tart aroma with cherries and wood and funky acidic tartness. Pretty sharp sourness on the flavor with bright red wine tones and oak and cherries and a smooth earthy sour funk on the end. Slightly almost too tart but very richly red wine and cherryish.

3.7 Bottle shared @ monthly tasting, Chez Sophie, courtesy of SImon F. Pours a misty orange-amber, foamy off-white head. Aroma is sour berry fruit, cherries. Taste is crisp lacto, tangy cherry, some vibrant acidic vinegar. Tangy.

4.2 Batch 4. Big fizzy head like on a clear brownish red pour. Big cherry aroma. Pretty clean with some old wood and just a touch of funk. Maybe s bait of raisin. Extremely start. Cherry jolly rancher flavor with a dry finish

4.0 Backlog, ocena przepisana z untappd, w ramach uzupełniania profilu na ratebeer.

4.2 Bottle from Kris Wines. Batch number 4. Colour is rich rusty orange to brown, cloudy, with a medium beige head which dissipates to nothing. I know there are some who don’t like American sours, but when they get it right I love them. Nose is big lactobacilius sour, tart, bitter, aged apple cider, red apple skins, white wine vnegar, brown oxidised apple flesh, white apple sweetness. Taste is massive hit of lactobacilus sour and tartnesss but backed up by a nice full body of apple cider sweetness and tartness, funkiness, white vinegar, malt vinegar. Clean lines, not much funk in the nose but full flavoured.

3.9 375ml bottle (says batch no. 4). Pours pinky orange with no head and nice and fizzy. Aroma is tart, white wine and bread. Flavour is tart grape and cherry with a dry sour dough finish. The cherry doesn’t lead as it does in a kriek lambic, it just adds a subtle note and some extra fruitiness.

4.0 0,375l bottle at home. Bottled May 2015. brown / redish light hazy color, small off-white head. smells of vinegar, vinous, some funk, light wood, light glue, nutty, marzipan, light vanilla, some cherry notes, lovely smell. full body, medium carbonation, slick mouthfeel. tastes citric, light vinegar, light funk, nutty, vinous, bit glueish, light cherry notes. finishes rather dry and medium sour with notes of vinegar, some cherry notes and a bit nutty. very nice one, lovely smell, taste is good but lacking a bit towards the finish, overall lovely beer.

3.6 375 ml bottle. Pours an orange mahogany color with no head. Aromas of vinous old wood and tart cherries. Flavors of same with additional green oak and cherry skins. Tart and funky. Nice.

4.2 Rami Rami is drinking a Dogpatch Sour by Almanac Beer Company at BierCabMocno kwasne w owocowy sposob, limonkowo-winogronowy? gdzie te wisnie? Dzikosc pod kontrola, nie dominuje, jakies serowe nutki. Bardzo bardzo rzeskie o dziwo. Klasa. choc dziwne jak na flandersa Ocena potraktowana skryptem do przeliczania ocen (uzgodnienie UT/RB).

4.0 35cl bottle. Clear copper pour with a thin off-white head with poor retention. Notes of cherries, caramel, blue cheese, apple vinegar and tons of macerated cherries. Some vanilla and oak barrel, especially in the aroma. Medium body and carbonation with a very tart and fizzy finish.

3.6 Bottle. Pours an orangish-red color with white head. Sour, red wine, cherry, currant aromas. Sour, cherry, red wine, berry, vinegar flavors. A little more intensely sour than I typically prefer, but quite enjoyable.

3.9 Bottle. Cloudy dark orange red color. Thin white head. High sourness, medium bitterness, low sweetness. Aroma is wood, cherries, barnyard, spices.

3.9 Red brown in color, as expected, and alomst no head. Aroma is sour with clear notes of the added cherries. Very acidic and sour tasre and once again with clear notes of the cherries. Red wine barrel aging can be a trap, but in this case it works, and the slightly tart red wine notes really shine through.

3.6 On tap at St. Augustines on Rare Beer Tap Takeover. Sour, cherries, tart, bready. Pleasant.

3.6 Bottle enjoyed at home - Nose is very much like wine, with slight cherry, vanilla, toffee and caramel on the aroma. The flavor is very much sour with cherry, vanilla, bread and light caramel as well. Its good. Vinøs nese, kirsebær, vanilje, toffee og lett karamell. Smaken er sur med kirsebær, vanilje, brød, lett karamell.