Fair State LactoBac 6 Lichtenhainer

I used to write these notes "live" typing as I'm drinking, then posting immediately after on the internets super-highway world wide web.coms. Then, I decided to alter the time stamp (I think it's somewhere in West Africa), so you, the reader wouldn't actually know at what inhuman hour I'm actually doing this drinking.

Why, then, I wonder, when I look at these notes I wrote weeks ago, and see the real-time stamp, do I feel the need to tell you that these notes on Fair State LactoBac #6 were written on Thursday, July 30 at 3:46 A.M? Maybe I should keep that information to myself?




Fair State LactoBac 6. It's another sterling example of why I need to visit Fair State more often. I've had the other LactoBacs, (not all, though) at other stops at the taproom, and perhaps at other bars. This past Sunday was the first time I decided to take a growler home with me. On the other occasion, I think, I just wasn't equipped to carry one back with me on my bike. This time, though I was prepared, and so my 750 ml growler collection has grown by one, and I'm ready to dig into LactoBac 6, a beer about which I've forgotten everything.

Appearance: clear, bright golden-hued, slim white head.

Aroma: Musty, funky, and oddly fruity. Undercurrents of white wine and wild yeast.

Taste: Whoa! Wild and weird. Now, I remember. This one has a german name that I'll have to look up, and it's clear from the smoked malt character coming through on the palate that it's some cross between a Berliner Weisse and a rauchbier. Or is it?

This is crazy stuff. Can't say I've had a smoked sour before. Wine barrel character, smokiness, light fruit, full-on funk, ending dry. Sharp, sour, just enough bitterness, exceedingly tart and dry.

One of the strangest beers I've ever had. Somewhat refreshing and just a little shy of delicious. There may be some who would detest this brew. I shall not be one of them.

I don't know why, though. I've had strange beers that I've hated. But, then, they were far stranger than this. LactoBac #6 has got just enough goodness to keep the strange from being bad.

And here's what the brewery says: LÄCTOBÄC 6 is our interpretation of a Lichtenhainer, a mostly dead style of sour wheat beer from Central Europe. Brewed with Oak-smoked wheat malt and Beechwood-smoked barley malt, and soured by lactobacillus. pH 3.28. 4% ABV, 10 IBU.