Uinta Brewing “Birthday Suit” Sour Brown Ale

If a brewery is in Salt Lake City, it’s gotta be good.  With much of the population teetotallin’, the market in Utah demands quality, and Uinta Brewing has been putting out some solid beers.  Here I check out their sour brown ale, which celebrates their 20th anniversary.

Appearance

Let’s talk about the bottle first.  Great looking label art with a caged and corked spout. Very good looking bottle.

The beer pours a dark amber brown with a thin head.  Very, very little foam and no lacing.  It really looks like a big sour.

Smell

I detected a lot of dark fruits, raisins, plums, dark raspberry, and figs. Some funkiness, but not overtly sour.  Earthy and interesting.  If I blind tested it, I wouldn’t immediately pick it out as a sour.

Taste

Crisp and champagney at first. Not overly sour, but the dark and sour cherry builds up a few drinks in. Definite fig and dark fruits again. Not boozy at all.  Maybe some roasted malts and chocolate?  Whereas I like the immediate hit of a big geuze, this took a bit of time to build on me. Very drinkable. This makes a much more interesting red/brown ale than it does a sour, and when drank in that style, it stands up tall.

Numbers

I bought a 22oz at my local beer purveyor for $16.  At 7.4%ABV with 20 IBUs, these numbers didn’t surprise me.

Overall

I liked it. Good drinking beer to share over cold weather food. I’d hesitate at spending $16 again for it, as when I buy a sour, I want to really taste the sour, and this fell a bit short.