Bend’s 10 Barrel Brewing is known for both hop-forward beers, and a wide variety of sour and wild ales, of which the Crush series spearheads the sour flagships. These are kettle soured, fruit-infused beers inspired by the German Berliner weisse style, and the brewery has cultivated a number of flavors over the years.

The current Crush flagships are Cucumber, Raspberry, and Guava, but there is a “Session Sours” mix pack as well, which omits the Guava but includes Apricot and Strawberry. I received this Session Sours pack a while back (which simultaneously seems like recently and forever ago, thanks to the pandemic), ostensibly for National Crush a Can Day. (Which is a great promo with the Crush beers, incidentally.)

I didn’t crush a bunch of cans for the occasion, but spaced them out over several weeks for my reviews. Most of these I’ve had in the past, but I hadn’t done the full treatment, so let’s go:

Cucumber Crush

I’ll be honest right up front on this one: it’s my least favorite of the Crush beers, for one big reason—it’s brewed with artificial cucumber flavoring (it says so on the can if you have doubts). To be fair, the brewery settled on an artificial flavor after trying many iterations, including real cucumber, and found them lacking in the cucumber desired essence. (I think the real cucumber at the quantities needed added too much bitterness, but I might be wrong in that regard.) So, it is what it is.

The beer is 5% ABV with 4 IBUs; the Brewer’s Notes description says:

Bend R&D brewer Tonya created this award winning masterpiece by specifically formulating a kettle sour to compliment the easy drinking qualities of Cucumber.

Appearance: Golden yellow color with a slight haze. Crisp white head that’s fizzy and fine and lacy.

Smell: Wheaty, lactic acid tartness, subtle fresh cucumber note. Earthy, mild, with some cucumber peel (bitter) found as well.

Taste: Pretty mellow and not as tart as I expected; cream of wheat cereal note, and there’s a cucumber character that does taste artificial to me, but goes in an earthy/bitter peel direction. Overall that cucumber flavoring is subtle with a light vegetal impression.

Mouthfeel: Light, crisp, moderate carb, with a lingering cucumber syrupy aftertaste.

Overall: Milder and subtler than I remember; artificial cucumber character is a bit off-putting. But it’s thirst quenching and goes down easy.

Apricot Crush

Apricot is brewed with “natural flavors” (text on the can) which I take to mean is probably fruit puree. This one is 6.2% ABV and probably 4 IBUs (though not listed). The description says:

Apricot Crush is made from a Berliner Weisse base with copious amounts of apricot added to make this beer really pop. Light, crisp, and refreshing.

Appearance: Pale gold color, hazy (fruit juice looking), with a fizzy white head.

Smell: Lactic tart and underripe/green apricot with a dash of fruit syrup.

Taste: Fruit goes into a candy/Jolly Rancher direction overlaying an easy-drinking sour that’s mild and soft-edged. Gets a bit more “apricot wheat” at the back, reminiscent (to me) of Pyramid Brewing’s Apricot Ale. Some earthy fruit skin comes out as it warms up.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied, nicely soft with a light acidity, and a nice tart apricot skin flavor lingering into the finish.

Overall: A well-crafted sour that showcases the underlying style; I’d like more fruit to go full apricot here.

Raspberry Crush

This is the strongest of these four beers, with 6.5% alcohol by volume, and it has 7 IBUs. It’s brewed with real raspberries, several types according to the notes. The description says:

Raspberry Crush is a kettle sour beer that is purposely design to support the tartness and sweetness of the raspberries. It’s tart like the fruit but also crisp and refreshing. Pour it into your favorite glass and take note of its pink-reddish hue that is crowned with a white rocky head.

Appearance: Deep red with purple highlights, hazy, with a pink lively head that fell quickly.

Smell: Bright aromatic and tart with fresh raspberry character that’s a bit jammy. Berry tartness like the aroma of juice on your fingers after picking fresh berries. Lactic tang.

Taste: Raspberry jam with a bright acidity. Really nice expression of fruit, full of fresh berry character. Wheat character comes in at the back, mellow and light. Yogurt-adjacent lactic notes throughout. Crisp.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied with the right amount of tart/tang in the finish.

Overall: Raspberry and sour ale is a great pairing and it works extremely well here. It’s the best of the bunch among these four beers.

Strawberry Crush

Originally introduced as a summer seasonal, this one is arguably the most interesting of the group because strawberry is a notoriously difficult profile to get into a beer (it’s very delicate and typically ferments out). This is brewed with real strawberries (or puree) along with some extras to get that strawberry character into the beer. Here’s the description:

Strawberry Crush is another of Tonya’s masterpieces! She started with a tart Berliner Weiss base and then fermented it on fresh strawberries for just the right amount of sweetness and a touch of cayenne to really make the flavor pop.

ABV is 5.1%, and it has 4 IBUs.

Appearance: Pink-orange color, hazy, white very fine head.

Smell: Delicate aroma of fresh strawberries and a bit of sweet strawberry jam. Interestingly, not much sour/lactic acid in the aroma of this one, it’s more fruit and jam though mild.

Taste: Lightly tart with wild strawberry flavors, more sweet jam with honey-like notes, and a bit of Jolly Rancher candy. Mellow, easy drinking, there’s a hint of (cayenne) heat at the back, with a pleasant strawberry jam finish.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied, lightly tart pucker, sweetly fruity aftertaste.

Overall: Nicely understated without tasting like artificial candy. Well done.