There are some beers that grab your attention right away when you see them. Artisanal Brew Works’ Warhead Extreme Sour series is one of them.
Over the past year, we have seen this series posted about over and over by other beer blogs. The vast majority of beers that gain traction in the beer community are from breweries that are a long way from us and don’t distribute nearby, making them nearly impossible to try. We were grateful and excited to be able to weigh in on this series, thanks to Artisanal being located just minutes from our home! Their prime upstate New York location gave us a chance to try a “trending” beer for ourselves!
Warheads are an extremely nostalgic candy for me. In middle school, students that showed up early for school sat in the basketball bleachers to do last-minute homework and talk with their friends. This social time also included Warhead challenges, where kids would suck on the extremely sour candies for as long as they could. I’m not sure if there really was a “winner” since the victor of the challenge would simply have been the one to have suffered the longest.
Anyway, it was awesome to see a brewery copy these classic sour candy flavors in a beer series, and Artisanal succeeded in getting those flavors right, for the most part.
Warheads: Black Cherry (Rating: 82/100): Black cherry is one of my favorite flavors in the candy spectrum and, while I enjoyed the beer, it was just fine as far as sour beers go.
Warheads: Blue Raspberry (Rating: 83/100): There was a time I had never heard of blue raspberry before. Now that it’s existence is very much known to me, I can tell you that Artisanal did a great job with this distinct flavor, and I enjoyed it very much.
Warheads: Green Apple (Rating: 79/100): Surprisingly, this was our least favorite of the series. We felt the flavor profile took us on a journey we would rather not partake in again.
Warheads: Watermelon (Rating: 84/100): Honestly, this tasted more like cherry than watermelon. Nevertheless, it was delicious.
Overall, this was a very fun beer series and I am grateful for breweries, like Artisanal, that are creative and brew unique offerings like these! I can’t wait to try what they have coming out next!
PINT JOURNAL 