Goose Island - Sofie

Tonights review is our first guest review since starting this blog in early December.  With how much my wife puts up with my incessant ranting about good beers, bad beers, brewing beer and so on I figured it was time to give her the opportunity to show her own appreciation for beer.  For the most part, she isn't your standard beer gal.  But she is a great science teacher and has a large affection for the science behind brewing a good beer.  She also knows what she likes and will latch onto a beer when she finds a good one.  We will see if the beer she is reviewing tonight earns her seal of approval!

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Sofie was introduced by Goose Island Brewing last year as the newest member of a series of special edition Belgian-style beers, joining Matilda, Pere Jacques, Juliet, and Fleur.  Sofie has an elegant white label with green and gold calligraphy.

This is a Belgian Style Ale containing a blend of 80% ale and 20% ale aged in wine barrels with orange peel.  The brewer’s notes recommend this beer for people who are fond of Belgian saisons.   Mine was bottled on 4/23/10 (1030, since I’ve been assured this isn’t the batch number I have no idea what it means).

On to the beer geek stuff.  According to the brewer’s notes this is a Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale that is 6.5% abv and has 25 ibu’s.  Amarillo hops as well as pilsner and wheat  malts were used.

Alright, on to tasting.

The aroma of this beer is a lemon, orange and wheat. The Amarillo hops used to ferment are very present in the nose.  The beer pours a pale gold color with a good amount of carbonation.

The citrus starts things off with a tartness that isn’t overpowering.   A little apricot is also in the background with distinct wheat flavors adding the slightest bit of sweetness.  This beer has a nice blend of tart and sweet without either flavor overpowering the other.  This beer almost reminds me of a cider.  Before you let that turn you off let me explain.  This beer has a light and refreshing quality that I associate with a cider, without being overly bitter.   As the beer warms, there is a little bit of a spicy character.  The finish is a fruity wheat flavor and the carbonation leaves a nice tingle on the tongue.

*WARNING*  BEER GEEK SCIENCE AHEAD

The brewers made an interesting choice of using Brettanomyces in brewing this beer.  In other beers this “British fungus” is seen as a contaminant because it can impart some off-flavors into the beer.  It is however not an uncommon choice for Belgians and Lambics.    Because this strain of yeast produces acetic acid it adds a bitter taste to the beer that is more sour cherry than bitter like a bittering hop would make it.

In Matilda, Goose Island puts the yeast directly into their barrels used for aging, but I’m not sure if this is true for Sofie as well or not.  This beer won a gold medal at the 2010 Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival.

Since my tasting preferences are far different from the boys my I will withhold applying a rating to this beer and let you try for yourself.