Fruit Tramp Kettle Sour

Dust Bowl Brewing Company — Turlock, CA

31 May 2019 · Stephen

Sour Dust Bowl Brewing Company

4.4% ABV

8 IBU

Deep pink Color

Contributing Factors

Presentation ✓

Character ✓

Experience –

Return –

2 / 4 A solid effort

Tasting Notes

Appearance Deep pink to light purple, vivid and hazy — the boysenberry and raspberry pulling the color into berry-forward territory that looks exactly like what it is. Minimal head. Looks refreshing and fruit-forward before the first sip.

Aroma Raspberry leads with its familiar bright berry-tart character, boysenberry adding a deeper, slightly more complex purple fruit note underneath. The lactic acidity from the kettle sour base is detectable on the nose — a clean, yogurt-like sourness that frames the berry rather than competing with it. Fresh and inviting, the kind of aroma that makes sense in the same landscape that grows the fruit.

Palate The sour starts hard with lactic tartness arriving first and bright before the berry sweetness from the boysenberry and raspberry builds through the middle. At 4.4% the body is light and refreshing, which keeps the berry character accessible rather than syrupy. The tartness is assertive enough to register clearly for experienced sour drinkers while remaining accessible enough that newer sour drinkers calling it "pretty tart!" are having a genuinely positive response rather than a puckering one.

Finish Short and clean. The sour character and berry fruit don't linger as long as drinkers who love extended sour finishes might prefer, resolving fairly quickly into a clean, refreshing close.

The Verdict

Dust Bowl built a kettle sour that honors the agricultural history of the Central Valley — boysenberry and raspberry from the same fruit country the Fruit Tramps harvested, in a clean lactic base that lets the berry do the work. Approachable, refreshing, and exactly right for the landscape that made it. A solid taproom sour that knows what it is.

— Stephen · Contributing Factor Brewing · 31 May 2019