I picked up a bottle Stumptown Tart the weekend before last. Due to being a lazy sack, I hadn’t got around to writing a review until now. First things first, a little history. Stumptown Tart is a single batch Belgian wheat ale; part of Bridgeport’s Big Brew line. First introduced last year, it was made with marionberries and aged in French oak pinot noir barrels. This years offering is a blend; 50% wheat ale aged in oak barrels, 50% sour cherry ale. It comes packaged in a 22oz bottle with red foil covering the cap and neck.
I poured about half of the bottle into my vessel of choice; a mason jar. The rest went into my wife’s wine glass. The beer was rose colored and cloudy. The head started thin and white. It was completely gone by the time I came back with the camera.
It smelled sour and fruity, not necessarily cherry though. The taste on the other hand was decidedly cherry. The tart cherry flavor came on immediately and carried though to the finish. The finish itself was crisp and tart; not at all bitter. I didn’t taste anything that I could directly attribute to the barrel aging, but what was there, I enjoyed. The sourness did a fine job of masking the alchohol. It felt refreshing to drink despite the 8.3% ABV.
I will try to pick up at least one more bottle before it is sold out. A couple reviews of the 2008 batch on Beeradvocate mentioned that it tasted better after it had aged for a while in the bottle. I want to try this myself with the next one. I would recommend Stumptown Tart to any fans of Belgian style wheat ales, Hefeweizens or Saisons.
One final note. Do not lick the bottle. I don’t know if it was the ink used in the label or the glue holding it to the bottle; but God, it was noxious. Not just “yuck, that tastes like chemicals” noxious, but “Well that does it, if I have kids, they aren’t coming out right” noxious. Be advised.
Cheers!
Kevin
After reading the end of that review I feel that if anyone has been “advised” it is most definitely me, leaving me with three important questions: 1) How not right are we talking about – “a little slow” not right, or third arm from the chest not right? (please, consider me advised) 2) I thought this was a beer review, not a taste-of-the-label review? and finally 3) Why the fuck are you licking the label of the beer bottle my beloved weirdo?
All that being said though, the beer really was good, even though I typically don’t love cherry flavors. Maybe one of my new favorite fruit beers, and I have a few…