Eric Cripe is a little under the radar- but you should know who he is. He works at the Jug Shop in Nob Hill as a manager and is a Cicerone who has done the beer menus to a few places you might have heard of (Public House and Anchor & Hope just to name a few…). However, he also hosts amazing beer tastings at the Jug Shop;  which you sort of have to be in the know to find out about (you have to sign up for their email list in order to get the event listing because they rarely list it on their website).

Dave and I have been lucky enough to go to quite a few of his events. Recently, we went to their Sour Beer Fest Part 1: Fruited Sour Beers last Friday. (Part 2 is THIS Friday and you have to buy tickets beforehand). $35 for 17 tastes or rare sour beers that Eric has been collecting. Not too shabby if you ask me.

We were handed our first tasting immediately: a glass of New Belgium’s Eric’s Ale, which he happened to have  a keg of. It’s a 7% abv beer with 16 IBU’s and aged for 3 years in oak foeders with peach juice. It pours a golden light amber. It smells of sour funk, oak and peaches. It tastes like light peach with oak (but not too much) and a touch of vanilla  with a nice sour punch (but not too much). It’s an amazing beer; if you can find it. It has been sold out at the Jug Shop of a while now.

Next up: Cascade Apricot 2009. 8.5% abv. This beer was put through 16 months of lactic fermentation and aged in French oak wine barrels. The apricots were allowed to slowly ripen before introduction into the beer; the beer then aged another 4 months on the fruit before bottling. It pours a clear bright orange hue. It smells a lot like wine, with tons of oak and dark fruit. It tastes like a pile of dried apricots, citrus sour, with some herbalness going on in there and a large oak ending. It was a tasty pucker fruity sour.

Birrificio Italiano Cassissona. This was the first beer on the list that I have not tried before. It is an Italian beer made in Lurago Marinone with a small amount of cassis added in the beginning of the fermentation. It pours a cloudy orange caramel. It smells sweet; with hints of apple juice, cranberry, some slight bourbon notes, dates and raisins. There was a lot going on in that nose! It tastes of sweet malt, caramel, grapes, prunes, and dates. It has tons of fruit in there but not much sour; it was only sour at first then it changed to sweet. It’s a perfect drink for a celebratory dessert.

Next we had Russian River’s Consecratation, which we all know is one of my all time favorite sours; but I have reviewed and tasted this beer so many times that I am going to skip it now. I just wanted to let you all know that this was on the list.

Oud Beersel Framboise-5% abv. This is a Belgian beer created by adding fresh raspberries to young lambic. This pours a dark red with a tinge of brown. It smells like sour raspberries and sweet funk. It tastes like pucker sour, tons of frozen raspberries, then a touch of too much oak on the ending. It was ok.

Cantillion Lou Pepe Kriek 2007- This beer is made with 2 year old lambic beers with a mellow taste, often coming from barrels in which only wine has been kept before. Then it is combined with the beer that is used to make the Lou Pepe Kriek and Framboise. All of these beers are then combined with the fruits and are soaked in barrels coming directly from Bordeaux. Cantillion’s Kriek and Rose de Gambrinus contain 200gs of fruit per liter while the Lou Pepe contains 300g per liter. This baby pours a cloudy beet red. It smells like light sour funk, cherries and a touch of cinnamon. It tastes like the lightest of all the Cantillions I have tasted with cinnamon, cherry fruit, then a good, tart sour ending with touches of lemon, blackberries and black currants. Delish!

Birrifico Italiano Kriek- This Italian beer is a combination of old and young sour beers that were fermented with lactic acid bacteria, wild yeast and black sweet cherries. It pours a cloudy sienna brown. It smells like sour funk, yeast and grapes. It tastes like funky sour, huge stewed cherries with a dry ending. It was on it’s way out unfortunately…

Drie Fonteinen Shaerbeekse Kriek- 6.5% abv. This is brewed with Belgium’s famous Schaerbeekse cherries, renowned for their incredible color and flavor. It pours a murky red brown. It tastes like very tart sour funk, with huge raspberries and cherry notes. It tastes like very tart sour lemon, cherry and tart, tart, tart funk goodness.

Oud Beersel Kriek- This baby is made from real cherries and Oud Beersel Lambic from old barrels. It contains around 400g of cherries per liter! It pours a dark, cloudy cherry red. It smells like sour lemons, cherry and slight foot funk. It tastes slightly herbal, sour, then sweet cherry juice turning into a tart sour ending.

We then tried Avery’s Depuceleuse, which again, I am leaving out because I have reviewed this beer a few times. But unlike Consecration, this beer has turned way, way too oaky for me to enjoy it-which is a shame. I really liked it when it first came out.

Russian River Supplication- Batch 5-7% abv and 27 Ibu’s. This brown ale is aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels with 3 strains of sour yeasts and sour cherries. It pours a semi-clear orange teak. It smells like sour cherries, oak and dark fruit. It tastes like sour tart cherries, oak and dark fruit. It has a good balance of oak to tart, with  not too much pucker lemon sour. One of my favorite sours!

Cascade Kriek 2008- This is a sour red ale refermented with  a sweet blend of fresh Northwest cherries; then aged 6 months in lactic fermentation in small French oak wine barrels. It pours a cloudy raisin hue. It smells sweet, then sour with dates, raisins, oak and sweet cinnamon. It tastes like sour cherry pie, cinnamon, sour funk and a sweet pie ending. It was super tart!

Cascade Kriek 2009- This younger version pours a cloudy red mahogany. It smells like sour and sweet with some slight dates notes. It is not quite as pungent as the 2008. It tastes sour, slightly sweet then tart cherries. I don’t get any pie or cinnamon notes on this version but it is still very good.

Ommegang Zuur-6% abv. This beer is a blended Flemish Sour brown of Oud Bruin and Liefmans Cuvee Brut. It pours a cloudy dark mahaogony. It smells like sour tart, then dried grapes, dates and some slight nuttiness. It tastes like sour funk, then slightly sweet grapes. It is sour but not tart sour. It is more like a sour grape sour beer. Interesting.

New Belgium’s Transatlantique Kriek- 8% abv. This is a spontaneously fermented lambic ale made with Polish cherries. This beer started in oaken vessels at frank Boon’s brewery in the Lembeek region of Belgium. After 2 years of aging, it was shipped across the Atlantic to New Belgium. New Belgium then brewed a full-bodied golden lager to round out the light-bodied kriek. It pours a nice, ruby red. It smells like sour funk with less fruit and way more funk in the nose. It tastes like raspberry tart, then sweet sour. It was very light and after all of these other beers, it seemed a bit watery…

Kasteel Rouge-8% abv. This is a Castle brown that has been left to mature for at least 6 months with sour cherries. It pours a slightly cloudy red brown. It smells like sour grapes, cherry juice and cherry cola. It tastes like sweet cherries and slight cola. It was very sweet! It was not my favorite of the evening.

Haand Bryggeriet Wild Thing-This is a Norweigan ale brewed with cranberries and currants. It pours a cloudy orange teak. It smells like sour funk, herbal- actually WAY too herbal-and stinky feet. It was not nice to smell! It tastes like anise, juniper, herbal, spicy, feet, slight malt and tobacco smoke. It tastes like I am sucking on a Juniper tree…not too pleasant!

Whew! That was a long one….but definitely WORTH trying if you can get your hands on when they will be doing their tastings…and don’t forget part 2 of the Sour Beer Tasting this Friday from 6-9pm.