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750ml

Thanks go out to heliosphann for bringing this to share yesterday. Liquid Sunshine Reserva gleams with a bright golden yellow body along with some hazy orange highlights. The fizzy white head quickly crackles down to a skim coat and decent collar. There are a couple patchy spots of lacing here and there after each drink that slowly fall back into the body.

The nose starts off with a bright champagne quality before snapping into slightly tart lemon juice acidity. Slightly muddled orchard fruit come along rather quickly with some green apple skins being most noticeable. A nice wet rock minerally quality takes hold briefly but gives it up to soft honey sweetness on the backend. This beer smells appetizing but is fairly simple for what it should be.

The flavor profile manages to match the nose step for step. White grapes in the form of champagne lead things off while slightly tart lemon acidity quickly backs it up. The orchard fruits come along mid-palate with a nice little sweet/sour thing going on that reminds me slightly of Sweet Tarts. Minerals make an appearance and luckily fall just short of being metallic. Honey comes along on the backend with an added sweetness.

I have a hard time telling the weight of the body. It feels like there's a little heft but the airy carbonation makes it come across as a lighter bodied brew. There's zero noticeable heat and while the carbonation is lively it's also soft. A slight pucker and dryness hit on the swallow.

This, like most of the other Bullfrog brews sampled yesterday, is an easy beer to put away. The lemon juice acidity and airy carbonation make for a refreshing warm weather beer.

Liquid Sunshine is another solid sour from the guys at Bullfrog. They often fall short of great but they do produce good beer, this being one. Thanks for bringing this to the tasting, Scottie!

Reviewed: 8/25/09

Served In: Tulip

A steady pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three finger thick, pale tan colored head that is medium to large bubbled. The beer is a murky amber color that shows an amber tinged, full gold color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of lactic acid and oak notes predominantly. There is a backdrop of mustiness here as well that smells lightly of musky Brettanomyces funk. The lactic notes are actual quite mellow in the aroma and it really is the oak that is the dominant character in the nose; fairly spicy (peppery, a touch phenolic in the oak character with a nice sharpness), with a toasted woodiness as well as a touch of buttery oak character. There is a faint fruitiness here that always plays a supporting role, but can contribute notes of lime, green apple, tart pear and a not quite ripe melon. The aroma is nice, but somehow seem to be lacking a depth and complexity to make it really interesting.

The flavor has a nice tartness to it up front that isn’t really bracing, but definitely noticeable. The oak character is apparent from the get go, but gets a bit more noticeable towards the finish where it supplies a bit of astringency and tannic palate presence. A prickly carbonation couples with the medium-light body, both work pretty well together actually. While the acidity is mostly lactic there does seem to be a touch of acetic acidity here that provides a touch of artificial fruitiness (white wine vinegar sort of flavors, perhaps even a bit of oaky Chardonnay), an artificial sweetness, some textural slickness along with a bite towards the finish. The oak provides quite a bit of spiciness and even a sort of boozy warmth that isn’t actually alcohol.

In some ways this beer is quite bland for a “Wild” ale; if it didn’t have a touch of acetic acid character it would be downright boring. This is certainly not bad, and is in fact quite serviceable, but it really seems to be lacking in the complexity department; the oak and acidity seem to dominate and much of the base beer is lost and there isn’t enough other funky notes to make up for the loss. If sour beers really explode I could see this beer being just as a bland example of the style (sort of the everyman’s Temptation), as it is these are still rare enough that I think a lot of people will really enjoy this as it is perfectly quaffable and nice.

Served In: Tulip