Pukka puckerers

A new tranche of offerings from Otterbank begins with Mates Rates, a beer in one of my favourite underrepresented styles, sour IPA. They've brewed this at Third Barrel for reasons best known to themselves, though I appreciate the provenance being clearly stated on the can. At 4.9% ABV it's presented as the session sort of IPA, and the hops are Pacifica and Sabro. The aroma is striking from the get-go: a beautiful mix of spritzy citrus with a harder acidic tartness. The hops are in control of the flavour, and Sabro is on its best behaviour. Pith and coconut is absent while instead you get mandarin juice, zesty grapefruit and a squirt of lime on the finish. My preference would be for a little more tartness; this doesn't really taste like it has been deliberately soured and the hops could be doing all the work. Still, it's very tasty and if the intention is to make it Otterbank's first core beer, I'm very on board with that. Nobody else is making this sort of thing, so why not? Let me simply note that there's room for extra sourness.

Next it's the first in a Single Barrel Series, titled Brandy, No Ice Please. As hinted in the name it (a sour ale) has been aged in a cognac cask (Rémy Martin) and it's been turned a pink hue with the addition of redcurrants. As a result of all that it smells tart in two ways: the currant juice is present and distinct, and then there's the slight nosehair singe from the wild yeast. Although it's 6.1% ABV, and I'm often wary of strong-and-sour, it's light-bodied and clean tasting. I hope it's not an insult to describe the opening savoury souriness as almost like a gose, but that refreshing cleansing zing is the main impression I get. You need to wait a moment for the barrel, and it's only faint, but there's an old oak mustiness at the back adding a contrasting character that tastes more of heavy red wine than full-on brandy to me, but it still makes for an interesting complexity. This is enjoyable stuff: bright, summery and very drinkable, though containing hidden depths which make it worth taking time over. I would have liked to have heard more from the barrel however. Maybe we'll get that in a later one.

And second in the series is Damn Son, this one aged in a white wine barrel with added damsons, of course. It's a muddy red-brown colour and 5.6% ABV. There's an intriguing spice in the aroma, alongside the plummy fruit and tangy sour elements. On tasting, the wine side of the equation is on the downlow, with perhaps just a slight sweetening slickness hinting at it, although the spice I detected on sniffing seems to have come from the oak. Otherwise the flavour is big on the sourness: a clean and refreshing tang that bears more than a passing resemblance to mature geuze. The damsons aren't as pronounced as they are in the aroma but they do make a softening contribution to the taste. I enjoyed this a lot, finding my lambic itch well and truly scratched.

End-to-end quality from Otterbank there. The Single Barrel jobs are exactly what I was hoping the brewery would be turning its hand to. Keep 'em coming!