Just as many offerings falling under the broad umbrella that is sour beer these days have won over drinkers who had once professed themselves to be non-drinkers, it's fair to say they can be an acquired taste. And not least when they are actually sour. The majority of such beers tend to promote their fruitiness and lack of bitterness more than anything wantonly sour, and are more often refreshing or a little tart rather than bracing and palate-puckering. So it could be seen as something of an audience restrictor to call a beer Face Inverter, even if it's an eye-catching name presented on cans eye-catching enough to have won the first GABS Can Design Awards.
However, while Face Inverter packs plenty more liveliness than many locally-brewed fruity sours, it's nothing to be (too) scared of; certainly, it was more tasty accompaniment than feisty distraction when I enjoyed my first can while watching sunset over Wilpena Pound. For me, the experience was a little like overloading your sports bottle with heaped spoons of hydrating lemon powder, or squeezing the most lemony and limey bits from a 25kg bag of fruit. For all that, however, there’s a lovely sweetness at play too, meaning it’s more a case of fruity tang than the deep-reaching sourness of a Belgian with time on its hands.
tl;dr: Solo for grown ups.
James Smith
