Beer Review: Yazoo ETF E.H. Doble
Yazoo ETF E.H. Doble (Rum Barrel Aged)
5.2% ABV
Yazoo Brewing Company’s Embrace the Funk (ETF) series is the Nashville brewery’s line of sour and funky beers. Many of the ETF releases are limited edition one offs, sometimes bottled, sometimes only available on tap at either the Yazoo taproom or other Nashville craft beer hotspots.
Brewed for Pinewood Social, and also available at Craft Brewed (where I purchased it), the E.H. Doble is one of the ETF one offs, only available on draft at the two aforementioned locations (or so I’ve been told). At its base, E.H. Doble is a Gose with grapefruit added. It has been aged in rum barrels.
I love sour beers. To me, they are the pinnacle of what a good beer can be. What I love about sours isn’t just the sourness itself, but rather the complexity of flavors that exist in a well-aged sour. And when you start putting together odd combinations like rum barrels with fruited Gose, you just might end up with something quite wonderful… or quite terrible. So how did this experiment in funk turn out?
While not the most sour of sour beers, it’s sour enough. There’s a ton of depth and complexity—lots of interesting flavors to be found. Brown sugar. Citrus. Tropical fruits. Dark rum. Much of the grapefruit itself seems to have fallen off during the aging process, and instead there are more natural citrus notes like you’d find in some IPAs (but without a lot of hops). For being a Gose, there’s not a whole lot of typical Gose saltiness. It’s there, but barely. I don’t think I would have guessed this was a Gose base if I hadn’t already known.
The rum barrel influence is quite wonderful, doing a lot to add to the complexity of the palate. I’ve only had a handful of beers aged in rum barrels, but this is one of the better results.
I’ve had quite a few beers in the ETF series over the last few years, and this one ranks amongst Yazoo’s best. My only complaint is that I wish it were just a little more sour. Nonetheless, this is a terrific representation of the ETF line, and I hope Yazoo attempts to make it again (and bottle it next time). Highly recommended.
Score: A-
