Dry Dock Brewing Company Apricot Sour
I only recently moved to Colorado from the East Coast, and my first attempt to find some local beer left me dumbstruck; Colorado Springs alone has 25 breweries. 25! And the total number of craft beer concocted in this state is truly overwhelming. However, I have decided to steadily work my way through this vast ledger of lagers, this array of ales, this selection of sours, in order to find the perfect post-hike beer. The beer you cannot wait to crack open after finally finishing setting up camp for the night. The beer that is in fact worth carrying it up a mountain, just to down it. The journey will be a long one, but it is a sacrifice I willingly make for the good people of the UpaDowna community.
My first steps along this journey brought me to Dry Dock Brewing Company’s Apricot Sour. Dry Dock is an interesting company; Aurora, CO’s first brewery, Dry Dock has gone from a 900-foot local watering hole to now producing over 20,000 barrels of beer a year. I hadn’t heard of them before moving here, but I see their beer everywhere now, and I have a soft spot for sours, so I figured it was worth a shot.
My first and most lasting impression of this beer is “Wow that is good.” A sour’s defining trait for me is where it falls on the scale of sour to sweet; some taste like a juice box, and some end up tasting like I’m not sure what because I’m puckering my lips too hard after the first sip. The Apricot Sour lands on the perfect sweet spot between the two. It’s initial tartness melts away to a sweet aftertaste; this is where you really taste the apricot puree that gives it its name. The beer pours a nice orange color that is reminiscent of, you guessed it, apricots. What can I say? These people know how to name a beer.
The best thing about the Apricot Sour is that it is genuinely refreshing; unlike some sours, it doesn’t dry out your mouth and make you somehow thirstier than before you started drinking. This combination of yummy and refreshing makes this the perfect beer to throw in your day pack and enjoy after a long hike and a hard summit.
