Destihl Syncopathic Apricot

Destihl Syncopathic Apricot. 6% ABV. 8 IBU. Brewed and canned by Destihl Brewery, Normal, IL.

Clear, golden hue, slim white head.

In the nose: tart, fruity, sour, funky, fresh.

In the mouth: Very tart 'n' sour, fruity. Some apricot, but not too much. Little stone fruit sweetness, but just a little. Refreshingly tart. Light bodied. Ever so nice. Delightful.

Dry-hopped sour ale with apricot

Destihl Plum Sour Stout

Destihl Plum Sour Stout.Unfiltered Indigenous Wild Sour Ale. All. 5.6% by Vol. IBU:37. Destihl Brewing, Bloomington, IL.

Dark brown,...or is it deep violet? under a cocoa-tinged ring of head. Looking alright.

In the nose: dark fruit, some sour, some rich, cocoa-tinted malt. Yeah, they got the name right.

In the mouth: big pucker from the start, lots of grapes, fig....plum? Sure, that works, too. Puckeration returns sip after sip, sour begets sour, riding over a tide of lush dark malts. Chocolate and coffee laying down the foundation. Do you like the sour? do you dig the stouts? Drink of this, my friend, it'll give what you crave.

Hey, what's the can tell us? "Plum Sour Stout rebels against style boundaries as it opens with a bold fusion of fruitiness and chocolatey roast. Dark fruit flavors then take hold, evoking memories of plum jam and chocolate-covered cherries to bring everything into balance. The result is a light bodied and refreshingly tart stout that's just plum sour! Cheers!"

Ugh. "Plum sour"? yuck. Avoid those bad puns, people, steer clear.

Anyone, it's good sour stout and you can drink it. Not bad at all.

Borealis Fermentery Rood Tart Red Ale

Borealis Fermentery Rood, tart red ale. Knife River, MN.


Clouded, dark amber. near-crimson closing, slim, soon-gone off-whitish head.

Aroma: some funky stuff, some wildness and weirdness, and a touch of something unpleasant. There's just a trace of plastic/band-aid that's killing the vibe, here.

In the mouth: Pow! There's the tart, the sour, the fruit. Oak barrels, wild yeast, wine touches and flourishes, but that odd undercurrent from the nose appears on the palate, too. Refreshing. Tasty. Malty. Bracingly tart and delicious. Except for that thing.....yeah, it's still there, lurking below, tainting everything else.

Too bad. It seems like an infection in this batch, or this bottle. Not sure why or how, but the overall effect of what this beer is trying to be is marred by this defect. As I drink further...it's still there.

Damn! I love these guys, and what they're trying to do, but sending out bad bottles makes it harder to love them more, man! It's not the first bad Borealis bottle that I've tried, either. Just sad to have an infected bottle from a brewery that I champion.

I want this to be so good, and it could be, too, but alas, something's gone wrong. Try to fix it, guys,  I'm rooting for you!

Reading the label: "For the winter season, we bring you the second in our tart series. Introducing Rood...." Wait, stop. Was it infected, or just old? No, the band-aid taste is not the product of age, but infection. I do wonder if I should stop shopping at that store, or do I need to shop there more?

Destihl Wild Sour Series Flanders Red

Destihl Wild Sour Flanders Red. 6.1% ABV. 15 IBU.

Bright scarlet coloring, slim ring of foam above.

Aroma: deep sour, powerful funk. Candy-ish cherry notes, wine-like, high acidity, lactic sourness. Bears all the earmarks of the Flanders Red style, without actually being a true Flanders Red. Is this one a "kettle sour" like the others in the series?

In the mouth: ooo! Ow! Yeah! That's sour! Tart and refreshing and ever so ever-so. Ooo, wee, and yeah. Little bit of bitterness, lush caramel-y malt, tart cherry flavors all day long. Mmm, this is nice. A Flanders Red style in a can? Never thought I'd see it. Mmmm.

This is can #4 of the 4-pack I bought months ago. Drank the first 3 up lickety split, saving this last one for the right day to sit down and write these notes. This one may not be aged in giants foudres with copious cobwebs about, but it gets the job done. Gets all the flavors right, in a handy li'l can. Ain't nothing wrong with that.

Destihl Wild Sour Series Counter Clockweisse

Destihl Brewery Wild Sour Series Counter Clockweisse. Berliner -style Weisse Bier. Brewed and Canned by Destihl Brewery, Bloomington, IL, USA.

Hazy, straw yellow, slim, white head.

Tart nose to start it off, some funk and some fruit, and we got the wheat in there, too. Intriguing, to say the least. Inviting, as well, leading me drink.

Intense tartness once on the palate. Massive attack of the sour. Smallest bit of bitterness, and not a drop of sweet. You've got to be in for this one, not for the faint of tongue. Sour candy flavor is the biggest impression. One of the boldest Berliner Weisses I've had in a long time.

What's the gobbledygook? "This "reverse engineered" Berliner-style Weisse Bier is our interpretation of a sour German-style wheat ale that is very pale, light-bodied, low hopped, highly attenuated and pleasantly acidic and lemony tart from our unique spontaneous wild yeast and lactic fermentation. Cheers. Alec. 3% by Volume. IBU: 4."

Wish I knew why they say it's "reverse engineered." Maybe someone will tell me.