Appy days

Several breweries have released a tie-in beer to mark ten years of the beer ticking app Untappd, all under the slightly tortured name of I Remember My First Check-In. The version from Beavertown was the only one to come this way, and I haven't had a Beavertown beer in ages so I thought it would be worth a punt, for the novelty if nothing else.

It's a kettle-soured blackberry and raspberry ale of 5% ABV, which I'll confess is not a description which stirs my soul. In the glass it's a cheery clear pink colour and there's a fun kick of citric-acid tartness in the aroma. The sourness is quite dialled back in the flavour, however, and it vacillates between a light refreshing sherbet dip and a heavier, sweeter jam. Its acidic yoghurty tang does help keep the excess sugar in check, and pleasingly there's more blackberry in the flavour profile than the usually-dominant raspberry.

This is everything kettle-sour haters hate about kettle-sours: it hints at the multifaceted joy of the sour beer world without delivering much of it. I thought it was fine: clean, spritzy and unchallenging. It could have been worse but even Untappd deserved more of a celebration than this effort.