Virtual Tasting With Caboose Brewing

Caboose Selections From:

Great Falls

McLean

Vienna

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to our very first LIVE virtual beer tasting with Caboose Brewing. If you couldn’t make it, then not to worry! Below we will provide a brief recap of our in depth tasting with Head Brewer, Matt Furda, and in case you want relive the tasting and sip while you watch, head to our YouTube channel here. Also, all of the beers mentioned below are available at your most convenient Wine Outlet location and are linked above.

The first beer in our lineup is Caboose’s Wasser Pilsner, and as we poured this beer, Matt let us in on his approach to beer tasting. Many of us have been in a number of wine tastings, and in many ways beer tasting isn’t extremely different. Like wine tasting, Matt brings tasting notes to light in this Pilsner such as its lemon flavor, slight bread-like character, and its smooth mouthfeel. From carbonation to kilning, Matt is able to connect the brewing process to what shows up in our glasses and describe how what we taste is a direct result from the thought and care Caboose puts into their beers.

This connection between brewing and taste is no different for how Matt describes Caboose’s Vienna, VA Lager. Vienna Lager is a style of beer that recently has been made more famous by Devil’s Backbone’s Vienna Lager; however, Caboose’s Vienna Lager is in a class of its own. Matt Furda shows us that this is a beer that he constantly tweaks and continues to perfect. Full of subtle brown sugar and butterscotch notes as well as bright citrus flavors the Vienna Lager is extremely well-balanced with a long finish. It’s complexity seems to be in its subtlety because it remains an easy-drinking beer despite its depth of flavor.

Speaking of easy-drinking, up next in our tasting was Caboose’s Citra Session IPA. Matt highlights how this beer is very different from normal IPA in both how its brewed as well as the hops that they use. The Citra Session IPA obtains notes of orange peel, clementine, and lemon zest through its use of Citra hops that make this beer a great choice for IPA and non-IPA drinkers alike. This is a beer you want to bring on the golf course or have outside at a BBQ because it is relatively light, full of bright citrus notes, and extremely crisp.

Last up in our tasting is Caboose’s unique take on sours in their Soursop Sour. In tasting the beer, Matt points out that it is lightly sour and “doesn’t tickle or burn your throat like a vinegar would,” and this is a departure from some other sours in that Matt uses a wit beer yeast that adds certain fruit flavors such as banana to the notes of the beer. Also, the beer is go through a co-fermentation with bacteria and yeast, which essentially leads to what Matt calls a liveliness in its floral and sweeter notes particularly on the finish of this beer.

For more information on these beers and to watch Matt describe them in fascinating detail, head to our YouTube channel and sip while you watch. Cheers!