Style: Fruit and spice sour
Brewery: Dugges
Origin: Sweden
Size: 33cl
Alcohol: 4.5%
Price: 35kr
Systembolaget: 83221
First released in December 2019, Cola proved to be so popular at launch that it remains part of Dugges core line up today. This sour beer has been infused with coriander, nutmeg, lime, cinnamon and vanilla to recreate the taste of Coca-Cola as closely as it can. Like many sour beers, the bacteria Lactobacillus has been used to create the tart, acidic flavours in Cola. I included this beer in the tasting because I’ve never seen a brewery try and recreate a famous soft drink in beer form, which is rather unique. For the most part, they have succeeded with their aim.
As you might expect by the name, the beer looked very similar in appearance to Coca-Cola when poured, with a dark brown body and slight ruby highlights, finished with a mocha coloured head. The body looked thick and sticky, and you would really struggle to tell the difference between this and Coke from a distance. The aroma was a very good copy of the soft drink too, with spicy cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and lime notes exploding from the glass. The aroma was pretty potent, and I could smell it from quite far away. I would say this major difference though is that the lime note was more evident, which put it apart from regular Coca-Cola. The taste was massive lime juice and peel hits, coupled with the strong spicy notes. A soft carbonation helped the flavour infuse over the taste buds. It made the mouth water after every mouthful, and the fruity sour notes lasted well after swallowing.
I think they’ve done a great job of imitating the soft drink with this beer, but the excessive lime made it all a bit too much for me. I couldn’t drink a whole can of this, but maybe one with a few people would be the perfect amount to enjoy.