Friday, August 7th, 2015

Harmon Brewing Co. to release Duck Face Sour

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Harmon-Brewing-Duck-Face-Sour-Raspberry-Blonde-AleUnless you’re older than 62 or live in a Tacoma Chinese Tunnel, odds are remarkably good that you’ve already shot a selfie or 20, maybe a 100. What’s your default? What’s your favorite go-to expression? Sweet smirk? Goofy grin? Smoochy duck-face? You know you have one. This is what we do now. This is what we deem important. Because life is nothing if not fruitless, outlandish and wonderful, all at once. Haven’t you heard?

Have you heard Harmon Brewing Co. will release a sour beer named after a selfie pose resembling the same facial expression many bust out after drinking a sour: the pucker lip, cheekbone raise duck-face?

It’s true. The Harmon Duck Face Sour Raspberry Blonde Ale will be on tap and in bottles by the end of the month.

“We barreled it for 19 months in red wine barrels,” says Jesse Holder, director of brewery operations at Harmon Brewing Co. as we walked through the brewing room at the Harmon Tap Room. “We took 26 pound of fresh raspberries and raspberry puree and naturally soured it. It was aging well, but then it funked out. Our brewer and production manager Bill Lundeen assured it would age back on course, which it did. Magic.”

The aged complex raspberry sour will be combined with the Harmon Mt. Takhoma Blonde for tart, sweet sipper.

I grabbed a taste of the raspberry sour out of the Brite beer tank during carbonation. I enjoyed the wine-like raspberry — fruity, sour, perfect balance of wood, sweetness and tartness. The raspberry flavors are solid and taste like a mixture of fresh fruit and raspberry jam, puckering my lips and raising my cheekbones.

When the Blonde element is added, the Duck Face Sour will smooth out. It will be the beer for drinking with friends on a cold fall night around a campfire. I envision aromas of tart fruit and alcohol against a background of damp fallen leaves and selfies.

HARMON TAP ROOM, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, 204 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.212.2725