Ah good old David Sakolsky, from his salad days at Hill Farmstead to his unceremonious ejection from the sinking garbage barge that was Blue Lobster brewing, I have enjoyed following his trials and tribulations.  Now, partnered with two far more caring/rational people, he has opened the doors of Deciduous Brewing.  Let’s see if this has those leafy greens your body craves, or if it is just a mammal shedding its teeth.

Stating in front of God and everyone that you are brewing a lambic outside of the Pajotenland is sure to get the manchild breasts lactating in anger. Even the prefix might not be enough to temper their ire, this is a sect of Magic the Gathering meets Yu Gi Oh type of obsessors and even the most staunch bando would call lambicphiles “maladjusted.” But can they get away with it like Allagash does? The carb is ample and doesn’t give the Degardian sucrose crackle and then peaceout.  It is frothy and maintains a lovely cap of coin op laundry foam. The nose is hilariously citrus to the point of being almost too much.  There is grapefruit pith, tangelo, jamba juice interior, smashed clementines and a sort of chalkiness/minerality that makes one think of Le Croix sparkling water.

The taste is sharp and acidic but has the poise to cut it with a lightly yogurty body so it never is too infringing. It follows the orange tones with a Donald Duck OJ feel and a mimosaesque closer, crackly white grape in the bubbles.  Entirely crushable, so pleasant, your brunches are remiss without this gem.

Cumulation is a gose that is aptly named because it toes the line of innumerable hamfisted goses with accompanying punny names, but refused to join the flock.  This is demonstration of that patient balance that is so critical in a relatively stripped down beer.  The likes of Troy Casey know how beers with a small ABV stage and malt profile need top tier execution to resonate in a meaningful way.  As such, this never goes hard on the salt or coriander, there’s no wheelies like jasmine or spruce tips, this beer sets itself apart with a lightly tart but also faintly alkaline foot rubbing the inside of your calf.

The beer is endlessly drinkable and represents that segment where Michelob Ultra wishes it would legitimately occupy: the old post cycling, post-zumba, post-partum accessibility that feels refreshing regardless of the context.  Pop one of these at your next conjugal visit and listen to those tales about how the COs just aint right. It is NaCL Gatoraide with a frothy lemon meringue panache.  If you can handle that, then pull out your diva cup and let it flow.

Every leaf bush contains its thorn though, and Dimorphic is the crystal malt black eye in the brewery’s lineup.  This is such an anomalous entry that is totally divergent to the rest of what Deciduous is about: clean, dialed in, ultra efficient, low plato beat drops.  This is more akin to something Founder’s would roll out in the late 2000’s.  There’s a sticky sweet malty body that feels like zero calorie American Barleywine.  With the other offerings so rooted in tropical drinkability, this feels more like a Warrior/Nugget/Tomahawk trudge through the most coniferous of tundra.  It masked any abv and did not have a lingering honey type of drag that is endemic to the hopslams/knuckle sandwiches of the world, but it felt far heftier than its 8% abv would let on.  Based on the rest of the offerings, this was a let down.

It’s hard to clack their testicles too resoundingly since this was probably one of the very first batches of DIPA that they ever made, so for now I will give this a “Revisit in 6 months” in my Outlook calendar and return to complain at a later date.

Let’s close with what I consider to be their best beer and a clear flagship entry that needs to be on deck perpetually: Auroral.  This would be a “no shit” appraisal, but Deciduous has Berliners locked down.  This is Alkaseltzer’s lemon water that fizzes with delight, a radiant citrus nose that feels welcoming without the lamentable albatrosses of kettle sours: eggy, sulphuric, ridiculous lactic profiles. This beer feels very similar to cumulous but ultimately reminds me of those ultra watery and refreshing plays from the old Southampton playbook.  I don’t expect anyone else to remember Uberliner or that stupid 200 bottle OG whale, Berliner, but this is very close to that.  Usually a show stopper from a brewery is something that pushes the limits of what is known or acceptable, but this excels in how flawlessly accessible it is.  This beer represents the Squire Stratocaster of the sour beer world and it should play a critical role in drawing people in to the nuances and potential of seemingly “simple” styles.

I could drink a gallon of this and still drive an Eliminator jetboat straight into the lake dock without any concerns.  That Pellegrino fizz with the lemon wedge swallow is a one two punch that anyone can appreciate, and so few brewers do this well.  If you want some well executed, highly enjoyable berliners/goses/wilds/etc. then peep these guys, before they get a canning line and there are 3 hours lines for fucking Dortmunders, or whatever the NE is up to these days.

Apologies in advance that this entire site isn’t dedicated to RareScoop vs. Existence battles like the rest of the internet.