Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project Key Lime Tau

**Aroma:** “Pear, apricot, and lemon esters with a hint of some sort of burnt phenolic character. Slight toasty bready malt. Apricot and red grape. A bit of wet-dog _Brett_ funk. Stone fruit, earthy. Light matchstick note with a medium-tart note.” **Flavor:** “Ripe peach, apricot, and lemon up front with a nice lactic tartness that rounds out the fruit character. Finishes mostly dry with a slightly lingering tartness. Apricot up front with red grape and toasty biscuit malt. Finish is very dry with slight peach notes and heavy _Brett._” **Overall:** “Nice complexity and excellent balance between _Brett_ character and tartness/acidity. Well-balanced, very approachable with a surprising amount of complexity. Quite sour with an interesting apricot and grape character. A fair amount of toasty malt character. Nice fruity notes, but the sourness is a bit overpowering. A milky lacto consistency with a sharp sourness and what I would describe as roast in the middle of the sip.”

Aroma: “Notable tropical hops character with apricot, orange citrus, and lemon. A bit of bready malt and a hint of toast. Everything blends together pleasantly.” Flavor: “Smooth, spicy hops character with a lighter body and underlining fruitiness, perhaps strawberry. Moderate bitterness that grows and extends into the aftertaste. Way too easy to drink given the evident alcohol strength. Nice resinous aftertaste lingers until next Tuesday.” Overall: “The focus is obviously on the hops, but It’s a classic. The hops evolve and expand over time, bringing new flavors to the forefront with each sip. It’s smooth and very drinkable. Nice balance.”

**Aroma:** “Juicy peach and lemon with a hint of vinegar, followed by pleasant oak sweetness and vanilla. Moderate tart note with dark cherries and _Brett_. Peaches with a hint of vanilla.” **Flavor:** “Lots of stone fruit and cherries up front with a hint of citrus, followed by a pleasant lactic tartness and oak flavors of vanilla and toffee. Finish is mostly balanced with the tartness lingering every so slightly. Light vanilla and sour peach right before the end of the sip. This beer is very, very sour.” **Overall:** “Well-executed farmhouse ale that is enhanced by the subtle nuances contributed by the oak. Great balance of acidity and oak. Not a ton of barrel notes but a slight vanilla toward the end. The sour level is pushing the saison category, but it is still very good. High carbonation helps push the perception of acidity even more. Moderate cherry and peach fruitiness adds a level of complexity. Nice oak notes in the finish. I really like the peach character and the hint of vanilla that came through.”