Junkyard Church Giggles Review

Name: Junkyard Church Giggles
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 5.9%
IBUs: N/A

In my absence from beer writing, there have been certain breweries that have gained a cult following of sorts and it seems that every time I log into any of my social media accounts, I can’t go two minutes without seeing a post featuring the said brewery with a caption along the lines of “OMG BEST BEER EVAR!!!!” Oftentimes, I don’t necessarily buy into the hype of what other people say about beers, mainly because I like to reserve judgment on my own terms. That and I’ve been burned before by buying into the said hype.

One of these breweries is Junkyard Brewing Company, located in Moorhead, MN. Best known for making their Milkshake IPAs and Sours, they’re located in a part of Minnesota that was, up until a couple years ago, a craft beer wasteland on account of the lack of breweries in the general vicinity of West-Central Minnesota. I decided to go out of my way this past week and try and locate their beer since any offerings from them seem to fly off the shelf as soon as it arrives. As luck would have it, that wasn’t the case on my last expedition. Which brings us to their Church Giggles sour ale, which is described as a cherry pie tart. It’s made with 800 lbs of cherries, vanilla and graham cracker sprinkles; Complete with Dana Carvey’s Church Lady on the front of the cover.

What are Church Giggles, you ask? Well according to Wiktionary, they’re described as: Uncontrollable laughter or giggling that occurs inappropriately in an inappropriate place and time, as when in church.

Appearance – Dark ruby red color with a mild amount of visible carbonation rising up from the bottom. The head has a foamy salmon pink color but there’s nothing here in terms of lacing.

Aroma – Strong cherry notes and pilsner malts are present upfront. I’m also picking up on some light graham cracker & vanilla tucked behind that cherry fruitiness.

Taste – That cherry tart/sweetness is ever present upfront and throughout the palate but those mild vanilla notes from the nose are suddenly standing shoulder to shoulder with the cherries. Backing that up on the rest of the palate are that graham cracker and pilsner malt backbone, which helps in balancing everything out. The aftertaste, as you might expect, consists mainly of a cherry tartness, which lingers for a few moments.

Wow, I have to say that my cynical assumptions about their beers not being as good as people say they are were horribly unfounded! Which is my way of saying that this beer was fantastic and that the crew at Junkyard really knocked it out of the park with this one.

Sours have never really been a preferred style of mine but after having this, I think I owe it to myself to check out more of them going forward. It goes without saying that you most certainly must check this out should you get the chance!

Junkyard Church Giggles – 9.5/10