Sessionably straightforward moderate-to-medium body drapes honeyed fruiting over toasted caramel malting and relegated piney hop astringency. Musky earthen grain resin seeps into orange, grapefruit, pineapple, mango and peach tang at the midst. Slick enough for venturesome pale ale imbibers, yet hoppy enough for bitterer tastes.
All posts by John Fortunato
SURLY/ LERVIG 1349 BLACK ALE
Bold collaboration (with Norway’s Lervig) brewed with abundant Ethiopian coffee and black patent malts picks up lightly resinous Simcoe-Amarillo hop char as well as piney dried fruiting. Ascending coffee-sugared carafa roast elevates black molasses-dried espresso milking and sweet vanilla snip above tertiary dark cherry, plum, pineapple and yellow grapefruit remnant.
SURLY PENTAGRAM
Engrossingly ‘funky dark sour ale’ aged in stainless steel red wine barrels crosses an oaken cherry-derived Flemish Red Ale with an equally tart Oud Bruin. Light brettanomyces bacteria provides leathery barnyard musk for vinous red grape tannins and lemony balsamic vinegaring. Dark Munich malt glop eaten up by persistent moderate acidity. Mellow cranberry, goosberry, raspberry and cranberry souring guards the earthen tobacco-dried back end. Fairly complex and velvety smooth ‘wild ale’ stays tame enough for lighter thirsts.
(THIRD STREET) BITTER NEIGHBOUR BLACK IPA
Mighty stout-like traits outduel India Pale Ale-styled dark-roasted hop char and mild pine-sapped dried fruiting for truly awesome Cascadian Dark. Creamy caramelized black malts and raw molasses bittering set up bittersweet black chocolate-roasted cocoa dryness. Ashen hazelnut-cola-walnut conflux rides below alongside modest black cherry, prune and pink grapefruit illusions. Dense malt-hop profile proves richer than many stylistic competitors.
(THIRD STREET) SPOTLIGHT INDIA PALE ALE
Rangy springtime IPA never lets hop-roasted piney grapefruit bittering overwhelm caramelized brown chocolate malting and sinewy cookie dough yeast. Candied cherry-tangerine-peach tang, vanilla-sugared almond toasting and sweet tea nuances allow bruised orange glaze to envelop the back end of sessionable moderate-to-medium bodied pleasure.
(THIRD STREET) RISE TO THE TOP CREAM ALE
Briskly clean cold spring-watered moderation places corn-sugared pale wheat malts and light hop bittering above honeyed biscuit spine. Sourdough-breaded remnant fortifies the mild back end.
(THIRD STREET) THREE WAY PALE ALE
Spunkily sessionable pale ale gathers zesty grapefruit-peeled tangerine tang, softly lingered lemon pit pungency and wispy IPA-like pining. Dry as hell to its salty bottom without getting overly astringent or acrid.
BRAU BROTHERS RING NECK BRAUN ALE
Musky oats-toasted nuttiness picks up musty dried fruiting over brown-sugared maple molasses and cocoa-powdered caramel malting. Dank prune, raisin, plum, black cherry and raspberry tones unexpectedly outpace nutty mocha resonance.
(BRAU BROTHERS) SHEEP HEAD ALE
Aspiring to be an ultra-bitter hop head delight, deviously deceptive strong ale (with stylishly tame 7.7% ABV) ‘straddles the line between a malty amber and a tongue-bruising IPA.’ Relying just as much on ripe stone-fruited sweetness, toasted caramel malting and peated whiskey licks as the India Pale Ale-defined piney citrus Cascade hop bittering, exaggerated medium-full body needs to eliminate some aspirin-like acidity at the juicy fruit-spiced finish so that the orange-bruised grapefruit zest enveloping its red cherry, peach and nectarine tang (as well as ancillary honeyed cantaloupe sweetness) gains brighter distinction.
BRAU BROTHERS BANCREAGIE PEATED SCOTCH ALE
Thin peat-smoked Scotch malting and meat-seared compost earthiness given clean granite-aquafied mineral watering. Subdued dried-fruited tartness and sot nutiness hidden by dewy peat mossing. Just a tad underwhelming taste-wise.
LUCID FOTO
One step beyond Lucid Dyno’s 5.2% ABV (weighing in at 6.5%) and featuring a darker amber hue and sharper citric fruiting, off-dry India Pale Ale caresses dainty floral bouquet with lemon-perfumed navel orange, yellow grapefruit, pineapple, mango and tangerine tang. Toasted caramel malting plus sugary pecan-praline-vanilla conflux sweeten light spruce tones. A beautifully designed and crisply clean-watered medium body striking a balance between sessionable midrange and hop-headed delirium.
LUCID DYNO
Explosive ‘full bore hop hot rod’ brings brisk dry-bodied India Pale Ale fruiting to herbal-nipped earthen graining and modestly astringent hop bittering. Juicy grapefruit-orange-pineapple zing and sunny lemon zest pick up crisp carbolic prickle at sharp citric-spiced finish.