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Most American krieks fail to deliver the nuance of their Old World progenitors. And so it's telling that Upright brewer Alex Ganum won't call Shades a kriek, even though most of us would agree it very much is. This wonderfully fruity but restrained limited release uses 100 pounds of fruit per cask, all grown at Baird Family Orchards in Dayton. The barrels were spiked with three different strains of souring brettanomyces and aged for a year. The tannins in the fruit grew milder, but are still strong. There's a light acidic bite on the front and a lingering farminess on the finish. It is, in other words, a very complex and layered beer, one of the few locals that could go toe to toe with the Belgians. Then again, competition and rigid style definitions are antithetical to the Belgian brewing tradition. And so we have a kriek that's not called a kriek, making it the kriekiest of all. Recommended.
Willamette Week