This year, Deschutes Brewery’s Reserve Series Flanders-style Oud Bruin (sour brown ale), The Dissident, turns 15. To commemorate the milestone, the brewery returned to the beer’s recipe roots and brewed the 2023 edition with cherries, something it hadn’t done since 2019.

First appearing in 2008, The Dissident represented a huge departure for Deschutes as it was the first sour ale the company released commercially. Brewed with wild Brettanomyces yeast, aged in oak with fresh cherries, the recipe was developed by brewer Jimmy Seifrit (now brewmaster at 10 Barrel Brewing). The beer was a critical hit (still is) and Deschutes has since released it annually.

For the 2023 edition, the brewery sent me a bottle to review, and as a bonus, included a bottle of the 2019 edition as both follow the cherry recipe (as opposed to other fruits). The same beer, four years apart—I couldn’t resist a side-by-side tasting!

Here’s the description that accompanied this year’s brew:

The Dissident is a distinctive barrel-aged Belgian-style sour brown ale brewed with fresh Oregon cherries, fermented with wild yeast and matured in oak. This special ale reveals unmatched complexity of flavor with a pleasant, bright acidity. It is unlike anything else Deschutes Brewery brews, worthy of the name, The Dissident. 9.6% ABV | 15 IBUs

I started with the 2019 but alternated between the two when taking my notes; however I’ve organized them by year below without the intermingling.

The Dissident 2019

The 2019 edition is 10.5% ABV, with 25 IBUs (according to Untappd). This was the last year Deschutes released its classic cherry version of the beer, having dabbled in the intervening years with marionberry, peach, and other fruits. Notably, the bottle is waxed-dipped, whereas the 2023 bottle is not.

Appearance: Light amber brown color with orange highlights when held to the light, and a bit of a haze to it. There’s a beige head that doesn’t last.

Smell: A sour note, acetic (vinegar), that’s bright and acidic with a light kiss of sour cherry. There’s a bare hint of acetone which I’ve found in similarly tart, oaky beers.

Taste: Super sour, eye-wateringly so, with a red wine vinegar pop accentuated with some oak tannins and a note of cherry pit (delicate almond). More structure comes out as it warms, with a bit of cherry skin and a hint of oxidation (sherry-like, with a touch of wet paper). Tart balsamic reduction.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light, quite sour so that it gets you in the back of the jowls, with a lingering acidic finish.

Overall: I hate to say it, but it’s so tart that it’s almost overwhelming though there are some nice cherry notes, and there’s that note of oxidation/age.

The Dissident 2023

This year’s edition is 9.6% ABV with 15 IBUS, a slightly less intense rendition of the style than the 2019—though it’s important to note the strength has fluctuated over the years, ranging from around 9% to over 11%. As I noted above, this bottle is not wax dipped.

Appearance: Clear with a bright but dark amber color, and copper highlights. Beige head that also doesn’t last.

Smell: Not as sour, mellower than the 2019, with a bit of residual cherry cough syrup character in the aroma. A touch of balsamic vinegar (with a splash of cherry juice?). There’s subtle oak, vanilla notes.

Taste: Less acidic than the 2019, and there’s a woody bitterness that’s almost like some combination of cherry pits and stems, and raw wood (oak); there’s a slight funk to it, a bit of residual sweetness, but for that it’s seeming a bit rough (or young, really). The sour component is crisp and oaky and tempered. I get notes of caramel as it warms up and breathes.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, clean, with a tart finish highlighting some tannins on the tongue.

Overall: It’s a bold beer showcasing the Oud Bruin style, but I think it needs some age to it.