House Of Funk – Juno Dry-Hopped Sour Ale

House Of Funk – Juno Dry-Hopped Sour Ale Review

Beer Me BC is pleased to preview an upcoming What’s Brewing BC feature on the North Vancouver brewing scene. Our North Vancouver series continues with one of the more heralded breweries in the Shipyards District.

On a drizzly, brisk day in March, we visited House of Funk and bravely decided (even before the Spring COVID lockdown) to enjoy their outdoor patio. After shivering our way through a flight of their offerings, we packed a few goodies for home, including Juno, a promising sour. Its label proclaims the addition of blood orange, guava and vanilla, along with raw wheat, oats and lactose.

The first thing to know when pouring is that this is an unfiltered beer, so roll the can (gently but firmly) and get the lees (the yeasty bit) mixed in. If you do that, this will pour a cloudy, orangey gold.

Juno sports an amazing tropical, fruity bouquet, with a sweet & sour experience on the nose. Its tart yet candy-like aroma is strong with guava, alongside notes of kiwi, pineapple and apricot. The acidity on the nose is reminiscent of salinity.

On the palate Juno is tangy. It’s also juicy and fruity, with flavours of peaches, mandarin orange and pineapple representing the guava and blood orange. For a sour, this is a mild and rounded experience, making for an extremely drinkable brew.

The lactose addition makes for a slight silky creaminess. Also, the vanilla note was detected by one of us (before reading the can), so it’s there, but it’s subtle. Which is what you want. You don’t want tons of vanilla with fruit. Do you? Nope. Unless it’s ice cream. But this is better.

In fact, it’s better to the point that both BeerSeekers agree that we could easily drink a pitcher of this. Each, since we’d both need our own.

This isn’t the only beer we brought home from the mighty House of Funk, but it’s a great example of what they can do. If you can get it, get it; if it’s gone, try the next offering because you’ll probably not regret it.