BEER REVIEW: 445
BREWER: Vault City, Lothian, Scotland
STYLE: Fruited Pastry Sour
ABV: 4.8%
VESSEL: 440ml tin
DATE OF POST: 17th April 2026
JYMI SAY’S…
Vault City, you’ve done it again!
Am I surprised? Nope. These guys n gals are flippin’ magicians!
As stated in previous reviews, I’m a big fan of Pear.
I’m also a big fan of pastry, though I’m not sure I’ve disclosed this before. However, one can never be certain.
So, for VC to deliver me a Pear Tart in beer form… well, I can only thank them, then applaud them, and then thank them again.
This beer is fantastic.
There is a touch of vanilla and cinnamon sweetness, though thankfully not too much. This is accompanied by a low level of sourness. Not much but just enough to balance the sweetness out.
The mouthfeel is off the charts and the nose is exactly as you would expect.
Yet again, Vault City have just NAILED IT!
Jymi’s Rating: 90%
SAMMY SAY’S…
There are breweries that make beer, and then there is Vault City, who appear to dabble in something closer to spellcraft. Pear and Vanilla Swirl arrives with the confidence of a potion already knowing it will work. Even before the first sip, the packaging carries that familiar Vault City charm, the kind of cohesive visual magic that makes every can feel like part of a wider enchanted library.
In the glass, the beer glows with a deep butterscotch hue, rich and warm, almost like the butterbeer served in the wizarding world. It looks less like a drink and more like an incantation waiting to be activated. And then the aroma rises. Bags of pear and cinnamon leap out with uncanny precision. It’s astonishing how Vault City manage to hit these notes so perfectly, as if they’ve trapped the very essence of the fruit and spice rather than merely flavouring a beer. No brewer should be able to do this with such accuracy unless they’re stirring cauldrons behind the scenes.
The first sip only deepens the mystery. Pear dominates, bright and juicy, but never drifting into the territory of perry. Cinnamon flickers through like a spark from a wand. Then, moments after swallowing, the pastry sensation unfurls; soft, warm, and almost impossible to explain. How do they time flavours like this? How do they choreograph them so each arrives exactly when it should? It feels like alchemy, the kind that turns base ingredients into something golden.
A slight sourness cuts through the sweetness, refreshing and deliberate, like a final flourish from a brewer who knows exactly how to keep the spell balanced. It’s mesmerising. Truly, it amazes the mind how Vault City manage to pull this off again and again.
Of course, not everyone will fall under its charm. Some drinkers prefer their beers grounded in the ordinary world. But for those willing to step into something whimsical, Pear and Vanilla Swirl is a marvel. The sort of beer that makes you wonder whether the brewers are really just brewers at all, or whether they’ve discovered a secret art the rest of us can only taste, never understand.
Sammy’s Rating: 93%
MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 91.5%
MOB review next weekend: SURREY NIRVANA by HOGS BACK BREWERY
Sammy & Jymi – Musing on Booze weekly since 2017
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M O B 2026
MUSE ON BOOZE 