Brewery – Urban Artifact
Beer – Woodbreaker
Style – Midwest Fruit Tart Ale
ABV – 8.2%
PH – 3.4
This Midwest Fruit Tart is brewed with 3,000 pounds of black cherries, 125 pounds of lemon juice and 30g of vanilla beans per 30bbl batch.
Urban Artifact loves their fruit. Real fruit makes a massive difference in beer vs the “flavor” of fruit that a lot of places leans in to. This style (which they named themselves) is a celebration of that ethos. Loaded with fruit, not afraid to be a little tart… but dry and balanced – it’s a thing of beauty.
When Woodbreaker was first released in early 2018, it was a limited run Midwest Fruit Tart, only being released in 500ml bottles to a crowd of people who lined up to snag one. Come 2019, though – we finally got this beer in a little wider release, in the signature 12oz four packs of their line of Midwest Fruit Tart ales. 2019 saw a couple little recipe tweaks too – with the beer getting a little lift in ABV and an addition of lemon juice to tart things up a little bit. Black Cherry, lemonade. Yeah – it’s good.
Packaged Variants
- Cherry Praline – (2019)
- Lemon Cherry Cobbler – (2019)
- Lemon Cherry Margarita – (2020)
- Lemon Cherry Milkshake – (2019, 2020)
- Lemon Cherry Sorbet – (2019, 2020)
- Lemon Cherry Trail Mix – (2020)
My Thoughts On Urban Artifact Woodbreaker
When I first tried this beer in 2018, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t near the top of my list of favorite Midwest Fruit Tart Ales from Urban. Come 2019, though? I think it might have climbed quite a few spots.
In the glass, it’s a beautiful reddish/purple color, with a pink/purple head on top. Like most of Urban’s fruit beers – I recommend you give the can a little swirl before you pour the last bit into your glass, for every ounce of fruity bit to get in there.
Aromas are Light, but fresh. Black Cherry lingers heavily, but not in an oppressive way. This smells like you would want a big fruity slushee to smell… if they used real fruit.
The taste is tart, right off the front. It comes in hard with the black cherries before lifting into that brisk snap of lemon. Black Cherry Lemonade is a brilliant description of the beer, because it’s exactly what comes to mind when you sip away at it.
One word of warning, it doesn’t taste at all like it’s over 8% – and that makes this one a dangerous companion to a day of drinking. It’s bigger than it wants to you think that it is! Awesome, as always. Great addition to their lineup of seasonal MWFT Ales!
