About This Beer
Vault City Bake Off Cranachan 44cl 5% is a whisky barrel-aged Raspberry, Honey & Cream Smoothie Sour created by Edinburgh's Vault City Brewing in collaboration with Azvex Brewing Company.
The beer forms part of Vault City's Bake Off series, which takes inspiration from desserts from around the world and recreates their flavours through the brewery's distinctive approach to modern sour beer. For this release, the inspiration stays close to home with cranachan, the traditional Scottish dessert combining fruit, cream, honey and whisky.
Vault City and Azvex have recreated those flavours using raspberries, strawberries and apples alongside creamy lactose and heather honey from the Scottish Bee Company. The fruit-forward sour beer is then blended with beer aged in ex-Speyside whisky barrels, introducing oak, vanilla and rich whisky character.
That barrel component makes Cranachan particularly unusual even by Vault City's standards. It combines the thick, fruit-driven character associated with a modern smoothie sour with flavours more commonly found in barrel-aged beer.
At 5% ABV, however, this isn't an enormous barrel-aged beer. The emphasis is instead on fruit, texture, sweetness, acidity and the additional complexity provided by the whisky barrels.
Vault City places Cranachan at 3 on its sour scale, creating a balance between its tart fruit character and the sweeter flavours of honey, lactose and vanilla.
For drinkers exploring modern Sour & Lambic styles, Bake Off Cranachan is a particularly distinctive example of just how far contemporary sour beer can move beyond traditional interpretations.
Tasting Notes
- Appearance: Rich and fruit-forward with the fuller visual character expected from a smoothie sour.
- Aroma: Raspberries and strawberries accompanied by honey, vanilla, oak and whisky.
- Flavour: Juicy raspberry and strawberry lead the palate, with apple adding another layer of fruit. Creamy lactose and Scottish heather honey provide sweetness before vanilla, oak and whisky emerge from the barrel-aged beer.
- Mouthfeel: Smooth, full and creamy, balanced by the beer's sour character.
- Finish: Lingering berries, honey and vanilla with oak and whisky providing a deeper final layer.
The important distinction here is the balance. This isn't simply a raspberry sour with whisky flavour added. A portion of the beer has actually spent time in ex-Speyside whisky barrels before being incorporated into the finished beer.
That gives the sweeter fruit and honey flavours a contrasting layer of wood, vanilla and whisky character while retaining the vibrant acidity expected from Vault City.
About the Brewery
Vault City Brewing is an Edinburgh brewery specialising in modern sour beer and is particularly known for heavily fruited, dessert-inspired and experimental releases.
Fruit plays a major role across the brewery's range, but Vault City regularly pushes its sour base in very different directions through collaborations, unusual ingredients and limited releases.
The Bake Off series is a good example. Rather than producing four variations of the same fruit sour, Vault City worked with different breweries to take inspiration from desserts associated with different parts of the world.
For Cranachan, the collaboration partner is Azvex Brewing Company, with the beer celebrating a recognisably Scottish combination of berries, cream, honey and whisky.
The recipe also incorporates heather honey from the Scottish Bee Company, while ex-Speyside whisky barrels supply the barrel-aged element. That gives the beer a particularly strong connection to its Scottish dessert inspiration rather than simply borrowing the cranachan name.
Vault City's focus on modern sour beer has also helped make the brewery particularly recognisable among drinkers looking beyond conventional lager, IPA and stout. Bake Off Cranachan continues that approach with a beer combining fruit sour, smoothie sour and barrel-ageing techniques in the same 440ml can.
Food Pairings
Given that Cranachan is itself inspired by dessert, sweet pairings are the natural place to start.
A berry cheesecake works particularly well, echoing the raspberry and strawberry while allowing the beer's acidity to cut through the richness of the cheesecake. Vanilla ice cream is an even simpler option, giving the fruit, honey and whisky-barrel flavours plenty of room to stand out.
Traditional Scottish shortbread provides a contrasting buttery and relatively neutral pairing, while the beer supplies the fruit, cream, honey and whisky character.
For cheese, try a creamy soft cheese or a mild blue. The acidity can cut through the richness while the honey and fruit provide a sweet contrast.
Cranachan can also work particularly well by itself after dinner. Served as a dessert beer, its combination of berries, creamy lactose, heather honey, vanilla, oak and whisky provides plenty to explore without requiring a separate food pairing.
Try More Like This
If Bake Off Cranachan appeals to you, browse our Sour & Lambic collection for more fruit sours, modern sour beers and traditional sour styles.
This is also a particularly good beer for anyone beginning to explore smoothie and pastry-style sours. Your Search Console data already shows TheCru.ie appearing for searches including sour beer, sour beers, sour beer Ireland and Vault City smoothie sour, making the Sour & Lambic collection the most relevant internal route for customers wanting to discover similar beers.
For the full selection across different styles and breweries, browse Craft Beer & Craft Cider.
Vault City Bake Off Cranachan combines raspberry, strawberry, apple, creamy lactose and Scottish heather honey with the oak, vanilla and whisky character of ex-Speyside barrels, resulting in a highly distinctive 5% smoothie sour inspired by one of Scotland's classic desserts.
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