Beer Man: Deschutes Brewery delivers earthy goodness with Dissident
Beer Man is a weekly profile of beers from across the country and around the world.
This week: The Dissident
Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Ore.
The Dissident is a Flanders-style sour brown ale, sometimes referred to as an “Oud Bruin” (old brown) beer.
These are very earthy beers, soured through the use of a percentage of beer brewed with wild yeast. Deschutes brews The Dissident with Oregon Montmorency cherries, and it is fermented and aged in pinot noir and cabernet oak barrels.
This is one of those beers that impressed before the first sip. After removing the wax-enclosed cap of the 22-ounce bottle, a wonderful dark cherry aroma immediately filled the room. After pouring the ale into a glass, a strong oak presence and spicy, earthy yeast were present behind the cherry.
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The brown beer glowed with red highlights and the white head that formed dissipated fairly quickly, which is not unusual for the style.
The flavors that came through in the 10.5% ABV beer were phenomenal. I’m a somewhat lazy drinker. If a beer label states that it uses cherries, I want to be hit with cherries — I don’t want to fuss and work at trying to discern them.
That’s not a problem with The Dissident. It had a great tart cherry flavor that was complemented by notes of red wine, oak and vanilla. The use of dark Belgian candi sugar provided a bit of molasses.
The tartness of the ale seemed more from the cherries than the wild yeast, as I didn’t pick up the overwhelming vinegar aspect that many sour beers have. This is a good attribute, as it not only allowed the fruit to shine, but also the other flavors.
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Although I have never made a sour beer as a homebrewer, I noticed that the grains used included crystal, carapils and Special B (sort of a cross between chocolate and caramel malt). These grains have always been my go-to specialty malts for when I make Scottish ales, Belgian duppels and dark English ales.
The Dissident leaned much more toward the sour than the sweet. The only quibble I had was a strong astringency that hit the roof of my mouth, reminding me of mistakenly getting a bite of the bitter parts of an orange. It only lasted temporarily, however.
Deschutes distributes in about 28 states and its Beer Finder link is at the top of its homepage.
A note that the Great American Beer Festival was held Oct. 5-7 in Denver. The list of winners is here.
Many beers are available only regionally. Check the brewer's website, which often contains information on product availability by mail. Contact Todd Haefer at beerman@postcrescent.com. To read previous Beer Man columns, click here.