Dead Frog Brewery – Juice Box Sour Mixer

Dead Frog Brewery – Juice Box Sour Mixer Review

Dead Frog Brewery, with roots in the ground since 1997, was once best known amongst beer geeks for a Nut Brown Ale. Since their move to Langley and the debut of current Head Brewer Cole Smith, they’ve become a multifaceted brewhouse and tasting room that’s become adept at cranking out fruity kettle sours (amongst a multitude of other styles). Proof of this is their Juice Box Sour Mixer pack, boasting 8 tall-cans of tart treats. It does brisk business during each seasonal release.

The Winter 2020-21 Juice Box consists of four beers. We picked up a pack to see what each of them are like. Given that these are four individual beers, we’ve recorded separate scores and assigned the Box an overall score based on that. Let’s dive in.

War Head Blackberry Imperial Sour

This brew sports the most impressive name of the bunch, and is without question the standout in terms of colour and appearance.

As you can see, it threw a large, fluffy pink head upon our semi-agressive pour. As with many sours however, its head quickly dissipated, resolving to a flat (in this case clear) liquid.

It had a vinous aroma, and a tart bite on the palate with faint notes of cinnamon. There was some fruit flavour, although it wasn’t “realistic”.

Sour Apple Sour Ale

This is the standout in the group for aroma. In a way, it’s Langley’s answer to Storm Brewing’s well-liked brainstorm, Granny Smith Apple Pie Ale.

The beer pours a golden apple juice colour with a slight haze, like a natural unfiltered apple beverage. There’s beautiful sweet and tart apple on the nose; almost like a cider. Also, nice sweet dessert apple on the front of tongue.

This one is definitely recommended to try if you get a chance.

Mandarin Orange Kettle Sour

The Mandarin poured a medium orange colour with a slight haze. Again, there was some head, but it went flat fairly soon.

A subtle mandarin aroma was noticed, and a candied orange flavour. This beer is fun and definitely drinkable.

Atomic Cherry Tart Cherry Ale

This sweet-smelling brew poured an attractive light rhubarb pink. Its first impression on the nose was an aroma of cherries.

On the palate, if was off-dry. It had a candied cherry taste, reminiscent (to one of the BeerSeekers) of childhood cherries canned at home. Not an ‘organic’ cherry flavour, but that’s not a loss. The flavour is not so much sweet but maybe saccharine.

That said, this is the kind of beer that will go down fast on a warm day.

Conclusions

These beers were fun to drink and that’s that the Juice Box is about, as far as we’re concerned. They provided similar experiences when it came to palate, with their tart bite and fruity flavouring. These beers would naturally be idea to enjoy chilled on a hot day, but we enjoyed them nonetheless on a cold winter’s eve. Look for the Dead Frog Juice Box in various forms as a seasonal release at any time of year.