Case of the Mondays

Beer #674  Sour in the Rye / The Bruery, Placentia, CA
Previously from this brewery:  Others, which are here.

Mondays are always long, but today was longer than usual.  In my youth, I could miss sleep, pull all-nighters, run myself into the ground and then with just a tiny bit of rest get back in the saddle and keep going at full speed. Not any more, as I spent most of the day Sunday trying in vain to catch up on sleep, and spent most of today with a headache and a desperate desire to go to bed shortly after lunch.  An early bedtime tonight, and I'm back on track tomorrow.  I hope.  I think.

With what little brain power left for the day, you get today's review.  Actually, this is a beer I had a while ago, but had hiding in my email: Sour in the Rye, from The Bruery.  It pours with an amber color and a thin, persistent white head.  There's a tart aroma of citrus with a good bit of vinegar, and drinking back a sip gives you flavors of earthy oak, grapes, cherry, and vinegar, with ample tartness throughout.  I freely admit I don't quickly pick up the rye used in brewing this beer, but that doesn't mean  it's not there or didn't help make this beer delicious.  In fact, this beer finds a home in my Top 25 (which actually has way more than 25 beers at this point; it's more of a symbolic thing).

Sour Patch, Kid

An increasing number of American breweries have been producing sour beers, and if The Bruery isn't the best around, there sure as hell aren't too many better.  Maybe Cascade Brewing Barrel House, maybe Jolly Pumpkin, maybe Russian River.  Can't go wrong with sours from any of those four breweries, really.

Thing to Think About Today:
If I'm trying to shake off the cobwebs and get the brain moving again, perhaps Florence + the Machine can help me out with Shake it Out, a great song with great lyrics.  Hope you like it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtnxsIBVm5s

"I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope"

Day 653: The Bruery Sour in the Rye

I really need to start giving myself more to work with than the following helpful hints:
post goes here (JD Salinger)

After mulling it over, I think I may have wanted to draw a parallel between Sour in the Rye and Catcher in the Rye, but at this point...who the hell knows.

Dear brain,
     Write better notes for the blog.
                                  Love, Me

Tonight's beer is The Bruery's Sour in the Rye, which is a sour rye ale aged in oak. It pours a warm, chestnut color with a medium, quick to disappear ivory head. The smell has a wonderful sourness with sweet fruity esters. There's also lots of rye in the nose.

The flavor is dry and mouth-puckeringly sour. I wrote bracing in my notes, which isn't a word I often use but in this case, it was absolutely perfect. I can easily taste the oak. There's a good lemony sourness. Then I found this in my notes:  nTextP � n e ��} � T /p>

Aliens are trying to communicate with me through my draft posts. That's the only obvious answer, right?

Beer stats

Style: Sour ale
AGV: 7.8%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Excellent

Previously reviewed from The Bruery
Five Golden Rings, Oude Tart, Tart of Darkness, Hottenroth