Weyerbacher Riserva
Over a year in the making, this American Wild Ale is fermented with Brettanomyces yeast and aged with red-raspberry puree in Oak barrels for over 1 year, then bottle conditioned in champagne bottles.
3.7
433 reviews
Easton, United States
Community reviews
Pours a cloudy iced tea color with a thin off white head that dissipates quickly. Big bold tart raspberry aroma. Taste is very tart but not too sour to be unpleasant. Nice full mouth feel with lasting flavors. Hides the alcohol well. Light oaky flavor and a crisp fruity finish. Very enjoyable.
Bouteille 750ml au Mondial 2016. Couleur orange brûlé voilée, anneau de mousse beige. Arôme de framboise, boisé, champignon, levure sauvage. Goût de framboise, champignon, boisé, acidité très élevée. Carbonatation moyenne, corps moyen.
Refrigerated 75 cl brown bottle poured into a snifter. Aroma is raspberry, medium body, low carbonation, and very little lacing. Taste is raspberry and oak.
Pours a deep dark red w/ quick dissipating pink head. Aromas of big raspberry, vinous, and a little funk. Flavors of sour raspberry, vinegar notes.
Bottle: The aroma consists of moderate berries (I’m getting more cherry than rapsberry) with some light oak, barely a hint of lemon, and alcohol. It pours a murky brownish-orange with a small pink head that settles to a very thin film outlined by a slightly thicker ring. The flavor starts with moderate-heavy raspberry that builds in tartness towards the finish and mixes with moderate lemon, light oak, and alcohol. It’s medium bodied with mild carbonation.
DATE TASTED: December 24, 2015... GLASSWARE: Duvel snifter...OCCASION: Christmas Eve celebration done...time for a worthwhile ending to the night ...APPEARANCE: dark brown, almost iced tea in appearance, like muddied water... head swiftly descends to a thin white ring of bubbles... AROMA: powerful fragrance of flowers and funky yeasts... the Bretts paint a woody, oak-laden impression--big, bold and demanding...the second flavor is raspberry and puckering sourness...PALATE: vibrant, active at the teeth and bubbly throughout the mouth; a long, lingering, dry finish--a full-bodied sour that drinks with relative ease and without the hint of its alcoholic weight... TASTE: thick raspberry, a dessert in itself--the oaken casks create a woody, lightly spiced, slightly toasted back end that compliments the fruitiness; apple, berry, and malty...the sourness is intense and dominant...OVERALL: bigger and more demanding than the usual sours encountered during the year... a wonderful gift from Jeff that isn’t wasted on me...this is where Weyerbacher belongs, in a big beer with room to work.... intensely fruity and tart, with enough candied allure to bring upon the next sip....strong and sippable...
[7549-20150815] Bottle. Raspberry sour fruit aroma. Hazy, pale pink body with a quick foamy white head. Sour raspberry fruity yeast flavour. Medium body is quite tart! Good. (7/3/8/4/16) 3.8
(@ Campground Brewdown 2015, Millmont, PA)
A fantastic sour with a great raspberry profile. Need to get more of this in the future.
750ml bottle shared at a tasting. 2 years old. Seems to have aged perfectly. Filtered glowing orange-red-amber. Filmy, oily off-white head. Huge raspberry tones. Really awesome beer. Super pronounced sour raspberry. Unique sour raspberry bomb. Fantastic.
Bottle. No label taken - Pours reddish brown - Nose/taste of raspberry, oak, sour caramel, sour acid - medium body.
Hazy amber brown colour, white head. Aroma of citrus, raspberry, yoghurt, quite fruity. Sour flavour, raspberries, lactic acid. Quite citric finish, vinegar.
(from bottle @ Sunday Bottle Share, CBC Clerkenwell; RBESG 2014, London)
Murky copperish amber under a thin Rocky light beige head. Lovely raspberry aroma with a pleasant sour tartness and earthy oak. Lovely flavor with earthy funky sour and loads of raspberry. Amazing rich lacto tones and oak with a big tart and sweet raspberry front end.
2015-08-15. Murky pink body with a small head, last of the bottle. Aroma of year raspberry and yeast. 7+ Flavour is similar, pleasantly tart raspberry, lightly yeasty and acidic. 7++ Oak character doesn’t really come out much. Smooth average bodied palate, soft carbonation. Solid, enjoyable. Bottle (possibly aged?) at Campground Brewdown.
Rusty pink with a small white head. Aroma is raspberry, rose, hint of hibiscus. Light bodied, fruity tart on the palate, lightly dry finish. Taste is tart raspberries, cherry, hint of red currant. Yum
I Need to Update this rating with all the many vintages and bottles I’ve sampled from, but this is the most recent:
Super hazy ruby and brown coloured body with a nice, very thin tan head. Aroma of sour grapes, raspberries, oak, lemons, gueuze, more sour grapes and a lactic kick that literally makes your mouth water, until you have a sip. Medium-bodied; Lightly effervescent with a small kick of spices at first, but plenty of raspberries, alcohol, sour grapes, sour cherries, sour lemons, malt, apples and a robust sweetness from fruit that cannot be described. Aftertaste is complex, ever so sour, sweet and full, with a lot of depth in the malt profile, but the oak and sour fruit tastes are phenomenal. Overall, easily one of my favourite beers ever, which include double-digit trips to Belgium, but something about this beer makes it world-class. I try to keep six or so of these around in various vintages, all in my cellar for special occasions, and this one was for one of those - my birthday. This bottle is vintaged at 2014, purchased on 01-May-2014 from Total Wine in Manassas, Virginia for US$19,99 that is well worth the purchase price, sampled at home in Washington on 27-June-2015.
From my backlogg:
RBESG 2014 in London, Sunday Tasting at Craft Clerkenwell. Hazy amber beer with an offwhite head. Sourish raspberry tart citrus floral funky barnyard rubber aroma. Sourish raspberry grassy grapefruit earthy tart rubber leather barnyard flavour. Lovely :-)
Very nice raspberry lactic sour aroma with oaky woody aromas as well. Taste is noticeable raspberry, but fairly dry. There is a bit of residual sweetness but low. Fairly sour. Maybe 5 of 10. Mostly lactic but has a slight bit of funky to the finish. Almost like a framboise with more of the sugars fermented away so that it isn't too sweet. Really a nice sour!!
750 mL bottle shared with ebone1988. The pour is rusty reddish brown color with a nice white head and no lace seeming to settle on the glass. The aroma is very jammy. Lots of raspberry. There is a good tart sourness on the back end, but it's a lot of raspberry and sourness. Not a whole lot to be impressed about here. The flavor is pretty reserved. There is a good sour up front, and it moves through a nice raspberry sweetness. The booze is non-existent, which at 11.4% is miraculous. The mouth feel is a little thin and slick. Carbonation isn't really great and it falls off the tongue quickly. The fruity aftertaste is nice, but the booze warms on the back end. Could be a lot better.
Bottle shared with koleminer20. Aroma is sour, fruity, raspberries. Appearance is rust, opaque, light light light red head. Taste is very sour, some raspberry, booze is definitely hidden, quite tart though. Mouthfeel was a touch light, but otherwise good carbonation and the booze did not make an impact.
Aroma: Big fresh funky raspberry aroma
Appearance: Cloud pink orange hue with white head
Taste: Very sweet raspberry and vinegary on the front. Finishes with pronounced sour pucker.
Overall: Just a fantastic all around sour if you like them very fruity and very tart.
2014.2 This was my first experience with this style. And maybe my last. Way to tart, sour, and acidic. Maybe this is a good representation of the style, maybe not. Either way it’s not for me.
Bottle. Pours a cloudy red copper with small pinkish head. The aroma is brett, oak, raspberries. Thin mouth with tart raspberry, light oak, funk and brett. Puckering sour finish, really enjoyed this one.
Sample at the "New Beers Eve - Last Chance 2014 Beers!" tasting on 12/31/2014. Pours a cloudy ruby-amber color with a medium pinkish-white head that dissipates steadily to a film. Short strings of lacing on the glass. Aroma of berries, brett and oak. Full-bodied with flavors of tart raspberries, brett yeast and oak. The finish is moderately sour with a berry and oak aftertaste. Pretty good all around.
Delightfully sour with a hint of raspberry jam. Smells of raspberry with a hint of funk. A mellow beer that flows well from front to back. A little bit of unwanted "rocket fuel" in the finish. A very good beer!
2014 large format bottle. Bordering into way too sour. Almost upland like. Very acidic.
750 ml bottle
Approaching this aged bottle with a bit of trepidition I came away with the experience I expected. Flashes of brilliance often preceded sharp astringent periods. If you’ve got an older bottle then do not sit on it as this beer certainly does not improve with time.
Aroma / Appearance - A thin head quickly collapses into the caramel body that looks like a glass full of melted Twix soaked in carbonated water. Sharp vinegar masks apple cider and raspberry pulp. Oaky aspects try to balance out the other aromas but do not quite get there.
Flavor / Palate - Raspberry jam and apple cider warm the throat before seconds later a blast of intense sourness hammers the tongue. Abrasive vinegar makes it hard to drink more than a little at a time. Unlike La Folie or other intensely sour beers it does not balance itself with any bright fruitiness. It is unlikely that I’ll be grabbing too many more Weyerbacher beers in the future once I finally break the 100 ratings barrier for Pennsylvania because of experiences like this.
Bottle with cork - 2014. Pours hazy and light red. Aroma is raspberry mixed with light Brett. Taste is dry, sharp, berry and very slight Brett. As Brett goes, this has very nice character without the overly funkyness that sometimes you’ll see in a Lambic, but the Brett is there. A very balanced beer, this goes down very quickly. No detectable VA in this one. You get the oak on the nose when it warms up. Alcohol is well hidden. A beautiful beer and worth seeking out.
Bottle shared at the RBESG 2014, grand tasting 10/08/2014 Craft Beer Co Clerkenwell. Hazed pinky / orange coloured pour with a halo of light pink head. Aroma is musty tart fruit, funky brett and pineapple. Flavour is composed of cherry fruit, kreik tart. Very clean sharp sour with a nice funky brett edge. Palate is musty with a dry and spicy finish. Very tasty.
Muddy, ruby colored beer with an off-white head. Strong aromas of fresh raspberries and booze. Tastes of loads of raspberries, very tart/bitter fruit notes, and some warming alcohol in the bitter finish. Mouth puckering beer. A bit one dimensional but tasty wild ale nonetheless.
2012 corked and caged bottle. Pours a cloudy red with a fizzy pink head of foam. The aroma is sour raspberries. The taste is mostly acidic with some fruity components. Medium body and medium carbonation.