Robin Shepard
O’so Brewing opened its Madison taproom, The Madhouse, a little more than a month ago in the Marling Building at 1817 E. Washington Ave. The Madhouse offers about two dozen tap beers and range of specialty bottles. O’so owner and brewmaster Marc Buttera will showcase his more eclectic beers here. One of those, a limited-release seasonal sour blonde ale made with rhubarb, just turned up in 375 mL bottles.
What is it? Rhubarbarella from O’so Brewing of Plover.
Style: The background beer of Rhubarbarella is a blend of sour blonde ales ranging from one-to-two years in age from O’so’s sour barrel program.
Background: Rhubarbarella is made with local rhubarb. For the past couple of summers, O’so puts out a call for locals to bring in their rhubarb to the brewery. Last year the request generated over 400 pounds of it. The rhubarb is then frozen until the brewery is ready to add it to the beer.
The beer and rhubarb are blended in late winter. Buttera and his brewers turn to their barrel farm, which contains the brewery’s sour ales. They taste-test a variety of barrels to select those they feel will best blend with the rhubarb. The blend of sour beer and rhubarb matures in a fermenter for about eight weeks, then it’s filtered and placed into bottles where it ages for a minimum of 100 days before it’s released. “It’s quite a process to figure out which barrels to use,” says Buttera. Because of that, “each year it’s a little different.” The combination of rhubarb and the sour blonde makes this beer one of the brewery’s most assertive sours.
Rhubarbarella finishes at 6.6 percent ABV. It sells in 375 mL bottles for $10 in the O’so Madhouse taproom. By the way, O’so has been changing its packaging. About six months ago it started moving away bomber bottles to the smaller corked and caged bottles for its sour releases. It’s also no longer using 12-ounce bottles for core brands in favor of six-packs of 12-ounce cans. Special limited releases will be sold in 16-ounce four-packs.
Tasting notes:
- Aroma: A strong earthy tartness with a background of rhubarb.
- Appearance: Hazy orange-golden color. A bubbly tan head dissipates quickly.
- Texture: Medium-bodied and very bubbly. The tart acidity adds sharpness to the body.
- Taste: Assertive, tart.
- Finish/Aftertaste: The tart acidity of the sour blonde lingers. The rhubarb is there, but the base beer remains strong and prominent throughout.
Glassware: The stemmed tulip glass is a great way to show off this beer. The lip's outward flare holds the head, while the curved body of the glass brings out the golden color.
Pairs well with: not much. The acidic tartness of Rhubarbarella makes it a difficult beer with which to find a solid food pairing. There’s so much sourness it will overshadow most light entrees. Foods that try to compete with it may end up changing the beer’s flavor altogether. One suggestion is to dampen its sourness just a bit with plain crackers.
The Verdict: This beer is tart, sharp and great for a hot day. The tartness adds a refreshing quality. I did enjoy this beer, but one 375 mL bottle at a sitting was enough. The background blonde ale is assertive with acidity all its own. If you like strong tart-acidity, then this is your beer. Grab a bottle and enjoy it now. If you’re hoping it will mellow just a bit with time, then allow it to bottle-condition for a few more months or maybe even until next summer.
