Trve Brewing Cursed
I was — incorrectly — under the assumption that Colorado’s Trve Brewing didn’t distribute out of their home state. And, yet, there I was back in June holding this bottle of Cursed at a small shop down in the Outer Banks. The mixed culture wild ale sure felt real in my hand and I’m pretty sure that I hadn’t ingested anything that would have altered my perception of reality at the time. At least, I don’t remember doing so and when I unpacked the car from the long drive home, there was the bottle still, in a box amongst a few other purchased treats.
Cursed is a 4.4% ABV ale that features mixed yeasts (wild and saison) that is impressively tasty. This particular bottle didn’t have a “born on” or packaging date, so I’m not entirely sure how long those cultures were doing battle, but I will say the end result was darn good. A moderate-to-high level of sour tartness drives across the tastebuds quickly, but smoothly on a fairly soft mouthfeel and lackluster level of carbonation. It’s that missing bubble activity which allows the funk and grain and soft honey notes of the farmhouse side of the affair to shine, ultimately making the beer a bit more accessible than most sour ales I’ve encountered.
Was Cursed on my wishlist of beers to find? No, but the brewery has been on my radar for some time. And the opportunity to get one of Trve’s beers in my hands by happenstance certainly was a treat. I personally would have liked a bit more liveliness to the experience in terms of carbonation, but the softness also provided a unique twist that I ultimately ended up enjoying quite a bit. The mix of sour and funky elements didn’t perplex or confound the sense, but instead, sort of made sense by the time the last of the bottle disappeared.