First post and Rare Barrel review
Welcome to my new online venture. I try to be involved in as many aspects of the Arizona beer scene as I can; working as a beertender at one of the best bars in the state, selling craft beer with a distributor, working at one of my favorite local breweries and just generally being a pain in everyone’s ass as possible. I’ve also written beer reviews on Facebook and Instagram and I’ve had people say “hey, why not make a blog?” So I decided, why the hell not? And here it is. I will be reviewing beers and talking about local breweries, beers, events and anything involving the Arizona craft beer culture, especially in Tucson. I’m not here to rip off my good friend The Classy Alcoholic, as a matter of fact he has been instrumental in helping me get this started. Now, on to the fun stuff...
Now, while my main focus is the Tucson and Arizona craft beer scene, I also love beer from all over the world. For my inaugural first review, I have decided to tackle this beast of a sour from The Rare Barrel in Berkeley, CA. Supermassive is a variation of their dark sour beer aged in oak with blackberries and black currants and it clocks in at 6.9% ABV.
The color is a deep ruby that is nearly opaque. The nose is a rich blend of dark berries, light oak barrel and tart cherries. This beer is explosively jammy with huge notes of overripe blackberry, acai and bitter currants washing over pomegranate and light oak with a backbone of lactic tartness and sour cherries. Just a nice, punchy, jammy American-style fruited sour ale.
Rare Barrel beers are only available from The Rare Barrel and many of their releases are only available to members of their “Ambassador” program but lucky me I have nice friends!