Tesco recently had some new beers drop into their stores from some rather major UK breweries. There was a bit of a discussion on various craft beer forums about these breweries potentially dropping their high standards to enter the UK supermarkets. As such I thought I’d give them a go to see if they were any good. This beer is from Vault City, a Scottish brewery, who many proclaim are the king of sours. They do lots of weird stuff but the couple they have in Tesco are a little more tame. I’ve never had one of their beers before so I’ve got no frame of reference quality wise. ‘Tropical Sour’ comes in at 5.2% ABV and features pineapple, passion fruit and guava.

Visually the beer pours a thick, hazy tropical juice colour with a quickly dissipating head. The nose is simply packed full of tropical aromas. Tonnes of pineapple and passion fruit make this very appetising straight away. The tartness on the front end of the beer is very well balanced with a gorgeous fruity finish. Very drinkable for a sour while maintaining that sharpness right till the last drop.

A quick note on the bottle art: Vault City do not do cans by the looks of it. The bottle design is slick and simple and the positioning of logo is done well in my opinion.

This beer only comes in a small bottle of 330ml and costs £3. However, even at that slightly expensive price point I’d recommend trying this as it is a smashing little sour. Probably one of my favourite sours I’ve had recently in all honesty. The added fruit flavours come through in full force and I love that the sourness persists throughout drinking. I find with a few sour beers that the sharp tarty quality fades away half way through. If Vault City’s non supermarket releases are even better than this I will have to get my hands on some for sure! Even my Dad liked this and he is not a sour fan at all.

Score: 8.5/10

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Additional Information:

• Hops: Not Available
• Malt: Not Available
• IBU: Not Available
• ABV: 5.2%
• Gluten Free: No
• Vegan: Yes!
• Purchase Location: Tesco
• Purchase Price: £3