It’s been a little while since I’ve had an UnBarred beer. The Brighton based outfit have a penchant for incredibly funky sounding beer flavours. Today’s beer is no different. ‘Bakewell Tart’ aims, unsurprisingly, to be a Raspberry Sour with Almond and Vanilla. I love Bakewell Tarts and have been seriously craving sours recently so I was very excited when I saw this in my local bottle shop Arch Rivals. It rocks up at 6.5% ABV.

Pours a very interesting burnt orange or perhaps marmalade colour with a loose, quickly dissipating white head. Certainly has that raspberry jam nose with almond notes mixed in. Sweet jam on the the front of the beer that leads into the sourness and rounds off with biscuity finish. The fruit flavour in the body reminds me more of rhubarb jam than raspberry personally. There’s a good balance between all three of the elements resulting in the beer being rather drinkable.

A quick note on the can art: A rather less funky can compared to other UnBarred beers I’ve had. The pink pattern reminds me of rows of this symbol ‘{‘ rotated 90 degrees.

An interesting concept. Does it taste like a Bakewell Tart? No. Is it a bad beer as a result? Also no. As I mentioned it tastes more like rhubarb than raspberry and unfortunately for me the almond goes missing in the flavour. That said the beer in it’s form is actually rather tasty and as mentioned very drinkable as far as sours go. I like a good lip-smacking tartness but if you’re someone who doesn’t this might be the sour for you. There’s good balance between the sweetness (which isn’t overpowering or sickly), the sourness and the bready finish. It’s a darn shame it doesn’t taste like Bakewell Tart to me but a valiant effort with a good beer as the end product regardless.

On a side note, props to UnBarred for not adding lactose and keeping this vegan. It’s exactly the type of beer I often see lactose chucked in so it’s a pleasant surprise when I found out it’s note been used.

Score: 7.5/10

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

If you’d like a snappier version of my reviews check out my Instagram!

Additional Information:

• Hops: Motueka
• Malt: Pilsner, Pale Ale, Flaked Oats, Naked Oats, Wheat Malt, Acidulated Malt, Torrified Wheat
• IBU: Not Available
• ABV: 6.5%
• Gluten Free: No
• Vegan: Yes!
• Purchase Location: Arch Rivals