Cascade Apricot Ale
It was a classic spit take — like those ones you saw in television shows that watched as a kid. Or at least, that’s the way I remember my beer flying from my mouth in excitement upon reading a tweet from Cascade Brewing announcing plans to start shipping to Virginia. That was back in February. It took me two more months to find any of the brewery’s products. In fact, I found six of them in what has become known in the Barley Blog HQ as the most expensive six pack ever.
It was a challenge to select which beer to crack open first, but in the end I opted for the Apricot Ale. I suppose I was just in the mood for something tart and fruity. This 8.5% ABV wild ale did the trick wonderfully. The 2014 project was aged in oak barrels for up to nine months prior to additional aging on the apricots. The result is a beer that has a welcome wave of mouth-puckering, sour tartness and plenty of fruitiness to keep your tastebuds fully entertained.
The long wait and hunt to find this beer locally was completely worth it. Apricot Ale is an outstanding, well rounded and flavorful beer. It’s got a refined character that allows the wild influence, barrel traits and fruit to all mingle with one another, stepping into the spotlight on their own in good measure without dominating any of the others. It served as one hell of an introduction to a brewery whose reputation certainly preceded the arrival of their product. Gimme more please.