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Joseph Formanek's picture

Dantalion Dark Wild Ale

November, 2015
Judges Rating: 
92
Aroma: 
23 / 24
Appearance: 
5 / 6
Flavor: 
37 / 40
Mouthfeel: 
9 / 10
Overall Impression: 
18 / 20

Upland Dantalion Dark Wild Ale is a well-crafted American Sour that has the potential to improve with age.

The aroma of this brew is very complex with cherry, apple, sour fruit and spicy notes. There is a strong Lacto character along with some brown sherry aromas. Visually, this well-carbonated, quite turbid, brown to black-colored brew has a solid, rocky, tan head. In overall appearance, it looks very similar to a Flanders Brown. However, while the flavor has all of the expected sour flavor complexity, the malt character is surprisingly subtle, quite unlike a Flanders Brown. The middle and finish retains its complex sour character, but the sourness never becomes overwhelming, keeping it quite approachable. The finish is quite dry and spicy, with the moderate sourness cleansing the palate quite well to prepare you for the next sip. While the overall package is not particularly complex, particularly in the malt character, this brew is still quite nice and is a good representation of the Mixed Fermentation Sour Beer style. This one has the potential to become much more interesting after cellaring.