Tuesday, November 12, 2013

C'est La Vie

I heard last Thursday that Pizza Point Ocean Beach was tapping a keg of Cantillon kriek at 5:00 pm on Friday as part of San Diego's Beer Week.  I arrived at 6:00; the Cantillon keg had blown at 5:40.  Thank you very much.  With the point of my visit now empty, I had to pick a backup.  I chose house-brewed sour, Mi Nachos Trois, a blend of several other Pizza Port Ocean Beach sours, which I believe is the reason for the trois in the name (and Nachos is the name of Pizza Port Ocean Beach's brewer).  I loved this beer.  Mi Nachos Trois started with a face puckering sour jolt, immediately countered with a soothing streak of sweetness, which ran through the entire beer.  It finished abruptly with a sharp bitterness, like hitting a wall.   Mi Nachos Trois' wild flavor arch was an adventure for my taste buds, and shows why sours are so compelling.  Its ABV was only about 6%, which puts it right in my preferred range for sours.  I find higher ABV sours (above 7.5%) less approachable and characterized more by their booziness than tart nuances.  Tasting a draft Cantillon would have been a rare treat, but I don't feel cheated.  Mi Nachos Trois was excellent, and the best part is I get to go back to Pizza Port and have some more.

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