Rating: 4.45/5

Sans Pagaie (2013 version) by The Bruery is a 5.4% ABV Sour Blond Ale aged in Oak with Cherries. 

Label:
UP A KRIEK
We added loads of cherries to this sour blonde ale, giving it a color as bright as its flavors. 
Sans Pagaie is best enjoyed fresh, until then, please store in a cool dark place.

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION (ratebeer.com)
French for “without a paddle”, Sans Pagaie is our take on a Belgian Kriek. We added an incredible amount of cherries (whole and pureed) to this sour blonde ale and then we decided to add more. The result is a well balanced fruited sour ale, perfect on it’s own, even better with a slice of chocolate cake. 5.8% ABV, Cellerable for up to 3 years. 
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Up the Kriek without a paddle is what this beer is about. The river of cherries is long flow of sweet and sourness. This beer was released last year and one could buy it from the Bruery. It is an yearly seasonal release. I tried this one last time and I thought it was pretty good as the cherries were more forward than the sour oak. Now this is the bottle one, let’s see how it fairs.

Aromas:
Strawberry,Cherry and vanilla Mexican Flour Atole, caramel biscuit bread, then the funky sour wine grapes and lactic acid notes kick in, sour apples, pears, oak, cherry cobbler, Hibiscus, roses and brown sugar.

Flavors:
Dark Cherry yogurt but then the funky sourness takes over. Cherry pie, Mexican coconut alfafor sugar block, vanilla, lemons, apples, sour grapes, oak, hibiscus wine notes, barnyard hay, spices and coriander.

Aftertaste:
Cherry and coconut flavor seems to linger along with the sour wine grapes and barnyard hay. It is a sipping beer as it is a sour but there is no alcohol in the taste.

Overall:
A very good beer if you enjoy digging through sours. I was surprised by this one because it smelled sweet and it was sweet until the sourness kicked in. Lucky, there is enough sweet to balance it out from being just pure sour. Like I said, if you don’t like sours, you won’t like this one.

Anime Corner:
Milla Maxwell from Tales of Xillia 2 was chosen in this pairing to showcase her colors in this artwork to pair with the colors of the label but also the flavors of the beer. Which are the sweet and tart cherries, coconut alfafor, and all the flavors which then proceed into purple or the funky wine grape and oak flavors of the beer. She is normally a blonde girl as well so with the addition of cherries which makes her hair red, pink, purple and some yellow definitely compliments Sans Pagaie.