Brewery: Vault City Brewing
Country: Scotland
ABV: 8.5%
Style: Sour Ale
Other Notes: Modern sour beer

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The return of our notorious Skies series! For this variation we jumped at the chance to use late season sweet cherries for a ruby red addition to the range. Equal parts rich, smooth and delightfully tart, Cherry Skies is the epitome of the Modern Sour Beers we make. To honour the complex yet smashable versions which have come before it we added hibiscus flower and Madagascan vanilla to accompany the fruit for the fullest and juiciest cherry sour beer possible.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.8
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 375ml bottle with a best before date of 5th October 2022. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A deep red colour with a slight purple hue and a big two finger pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, lightly tart cherry, blackcurrant, red apple, and a touch floral.
Taste: Very lightly tart, moderately sweet, mixed berries, cherry, blackberry, blackcurrant, and floral (I’m guessing it’s the hibiscus).
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Cherry and vanilla should be a match made in heaven, but I’m not getting any of the supposed vanilla aroma or flavours. It was also not quite the cherry bomb I was hoping for as the floral hibiscus notes were quite strong, along with a whole bunch of other mixed berry aroma and flavours that crept in. For a sour beer, the use of sweet cherries also appears to have turned it on the sweet side, which I’m not fond of.