Judge's Review: 85 Rating - Volume Thirteen Memento Mori by Wunderkammer Bier

Volume Thirteen Memento Mori by Wunderkammer Bier is a sour ale with chaga and rose petals which puts it under BJCP 2015 category 28C Wild Specialty Beer due to its use of herbs/spices.

The beer pours a deep golden with orange honey and some haze, making a very honey-like look. It starts with a low fluffy white foam, but has no retention. While the level of haze is a bit out of place, lack of retention is common in sour ales due to the acidity, so its not really a fault. Based on this I would expect more sourness, but it was moderately-low. Aside from the light sourness, there is also some grainy-ness and a moderate caramel/honey malt character. There is no hop character and only enough hop bitterness to keep it from being sweet. Beyond this lies some light perfume (rose water, flowers) and earthiness, which seem as though come from the chaga and rose petals.

This beer was a bit more mellow than expected, but enjoyable nonetheless. I’m not sure how much the chaga and rose petals added to the beer, and wouldn’t have known they were there if I wasn’t told. I’d much rather this allowing the beer to shine than these dominating it, but it should still be more present than this.