The Sip: Mariner Brewing’s Cranberry Gin Mint Sour is Perplexing in the Best of Ways

You’ll taste it all, somehow

My first reaction when I saw that Mariner Brewing was goingto debut a Cranberry Mint Gin Sour? Mostly chuckling to myself. It’s hardenough to make a sour with one of those three ingredients. But all three?

Of course, this is Coquitlam’s Mariner, who already makes (in the summer anyway) what is, for my money, the best sour on the market with its Blueberry Sour. (It’s also probably the best use of blueberry in a drink I’ve ever tasted. Miles ahead of McDonald’s ill-fated Blueberry Milkshake, at least.)

Though I will say the brewery’s recent Strawberry Rhubarb Sour left something to be desired, especially as that combination is my favourite pie flavour of all time (sorry, Pumpkin).

But I probably shouldn’t be surprised that Mariner fully pulled this latest concoction off.

It comes at you in waves. First, you get the cranberry. Thenyou’re hit with the gin and, finally, finished off with the mint. And it’s alldelightfully crisp, refreshing and tart.

I’m not sure how they did it, but I did make sure to grab a coupleof four-packs (they’re in select stores, but I made out like a bandit at the Liquor Depot on Cambie and 18^th)so I can nonchalantly bring them over to friends’ gatherings and make everyonejealous.

One warning: You’ll have to be a fan of all three of these flavours, because they’re definitely present and accounted for. Including the gin. Oh, and because of its five percent (shockingly low) IBU (which measures bitterness), it’ll be tough to believe this is actually a beer.

It is, and it’s wonderful.