And the Valley Drinks: Great Raft’s You, Me and Everyone We Know, Batch 005

Tart, sour beers have seen a surge in popularity lately with local breweries like NOLA, Tin Roof, and Urban South releasing their takes on sour ales, particularly goses. These ales provide a shock to the taste buds and pair pretty perfectly with our insanely hot summers. One particular brewery in Shreveport is killing it in the sour game with their You, Me, and Everyone We Know series.

Great Raft Brewing started brewing YMEWK (what the cool kids are calling it on the interweb beer groups) in 2015 with the first release being in 2016. From their website they state: “’You, Me, and Everyone We Know’, the sour mainstay of our Belgian Program, is a testament to the people with whom we fill our lives – people who inspire us, make us better, and those we couldn’t live without. This beer, like those people, motivates us to express ourselves through beer, which always seem to get better with age.”

Review

There have been several batches of this beer released periodically which the latest release being Batch 005 with this version having been aged for three months on blackberries.

My wife prefers the sour style beers so I poured her a glass as well. It’s a beautiful looking beer as you can see in the pic and it pours with a nice, lively, carbonated head like the kind you get on a pour of champagne. Be sure to stop before pouring all the beer out the bottle and give it a good swish as it releases the sediment that can fall to the bottom — which in this case is nice blackberry pulp proving that real blackberries were used in the brewing process. The seductive good looks of the beer are a siren’s call that lures you in but this beer ain’t playing.

It is lip smacking tart, surprisingly so at first and there’s slight worry in the back of your mind about the health of your tooth enamel. It takes a few sips for your taste buds to acclimate to just what the hell is happening.

Once adjusted the subtle blackberry flavor becomes noticeable under the funk and sour of the base beer. It’s a beer to savor and to drink fresh once acquired. It really becomes a joy to drink as you have what almost equates to a liquid blackberry jolly rancher in your mouth with the added bonus of lively carbonation that does a lively alcoholic fueled two-step on your tongue. The beer clocks in around 7-percent abv which makes it a nice beer to unwind with after a long day. I was able to find it at a local grocery store that also specializes in craft beer.

Rating

I wouldn’t say this was a home run, but would say that it was at least a stand up double or close triple. It’s a really well-done interpretation on a the sour style but would have liked the blackberry flavor cranked up just a little bit more. 4 of 5 stars