Kate and I were out of town for Valentine’s Day last weekend, so we are celebrating it a week late and I decided it would be fun to start off the festivities with a line up of Dry Hopped Sour Ales. Prairie’s Funky Gold Simcoe (FGS) just came out a couple of days ago, then I pulled a Prairie Funky Gold Mosaic (FGM) and a Crooked Stave Progenitor (CSP) both from last summer out of our cellar to keep it company.
We lined these suckers up and got to drinking.
Companies: Prairie Artisan Ales and Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Locations: Tulsa, OK (brewed in Krebbs, OK) and Denver, CO (brewed at Epic Brewing)
ABVs: FGS 7.5%, FGM 6.5%, CSP 6.2&
Style/Description: Dry Hopped Sour Ales
Appearance: FGS pours a cloudy straw with a light white head. FGM pours a brilliant gold with a large fluffy head and clingy lace. CSP pours a deep gold with a medium fluffy head and light lacing.
Nose: FGS has a dry aroma full of lemon and pine. FGM brings a much sweeter nose with tropical mango and kiwi along with a “cottage cheese funk” according to Kate. CSP is very earthy and musty with banana esters and funky cheese (in a good way…mmmm…funky cheese).
Taste: FGS has a huge amount of citrus in the form of lemon and grapefruit with a slight tartness and a touch of pineapple tropicallness (that’s not a word, I know…I don’t care). FGM is much juicier with mango and a great balance of tart and fruity. Some buttery Diacetyl is creeping in which serves the beer well in mouthfeel. I wish I could remember if that was there when this beer was fresh. The CSP is super earthy with some classic Brett notes and citrus, the driest of the three with some “orange pith bitterness” according to Kate.
Finish: FGS brought, you guessed it, tart lemon. It has a nice balance of dryness and sweetness with a slightly earthy funk that hadn’t shown up yet so far. The tropical fruit of the FGM carried in a big way to the finish and is accompanied by some bitterness. It leaves your mouth coated with butter. The CSP left me feeling like I just ate a wheel of Funkmeister cheese, which is awesome. It’s a Brett funky, lemony crisp, and clean finish. Awesome.
Overall: We wanted to start out by saying which of these was our favorite, but damn it’s hard to decide. They each have qualities better than the other. Kate finally decided that Funky Gold Simcoe is the winner for her due to those huge lemon notes. I couldn’t decide on one, but realized that of each tasting note, a different beer won. Funky Gold Simcoe won the aroma for me, Funky Gold Mosaic took the taste category and Progenitors crisp finish outshined the others.
Rating: They all get a 4/5. This was an awesome little tasting.
