Novel light lager brings mild roasted green chili peppering to soapy citric zest. Washed-out mandarin orange snip and tepid vegetal nuance fade at lingering soft-toned jalapeno-heated chili finish.
All posts by John Fortunato
(SIERRA BLANCA) ROSWELL ALIEN AMBER ALE
Modest amber-coppered medium body with smug Area 51 moniker and unassuming flavor profile will please less discriminating tastes only. Lightly creamed toasted caramel malting segues into vague fig-dried grape souring and sweet apple-orange-tangerine conflux. Earthen dewiness contains barley-roasted chocolate cherry cordial whim, brittle hop-spiced tingle and brief chestnut snip.
ISOTOPES SLAMMIN’ AMBER
Heartier than its pale ale affiliation would suggest, bringing well-balanced English Bitter-like earthen dried fruiting to fungi-cellared vegetal bottom. Chocolate-roasted cocoa nibs and darting dark spices underpin musty dried fruiting. Sedate fig, date and plum dusting swallowed up by watery nature.
(TRACTOR) ALMANAC INDIA PALE ALE
Mannerly golden-cleared moderation avoids rabid stylistic bittering for more affable approachability. Sappy pine-combed spruce tips and earthen fresh-hopped minerality complement floral fruited frolic. Beautifully displayed citric juicing allows pink grapefruit, lemon zest and sweet orange peel to serenade crystal malt sugaring. Fine crossover fodder for lighter ale heads.
MARBLE DOUBLE INDIA PALE ALE
Built for serious-minded hopheads, sweet tangy fruitiness brightens crystal-sugared ‘lean malts’ and resinous hop-oiled spices for medium-full-bodied grandeur. At the midst, evergreen-fresh piney spruce sapping drapes orange-peeled pink grapefruit ripeness as well as ancillary bosc pear, macintosh apple and pineapple illusions.
MARBLE INDIA PALE ALE
Crystalline West Coast-styled IPA utilizes refreshingly clean Rio Grande mineral water to elevate sharp citric fruiting and light hemp-oiled piney hop lacquering. Brisk grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and zesty lemon peel crisping contrast less prominent sugar-spiced peach, pineapple and mango tropicalia. Perfectly centrist.
MARBLE RED ALE
Souped-up ‘imperial’ red ale unearths endless varied flavors. Perfectly stylistic toasted caramel sweetness picks up juicy fruited bouquet over floral-perfumed hop bite, resinous pine char and fusel alcohol astringency. Sappy spruce sinew lacquers candied apple, bosc pear, red cherry, navel orange, ruby red grapefruit, melon and peach illusions. Subtle almond-pecan nuttiness underscores valiant fruit profile. Strangely, well-defined full body features bitterer dark-roasted hop profile than Marble’s India Pale Ale.
MARBLE WILDFLOWER WHEAT ALE
Well-rounded golden-hazed moderation loads wildflower honey atop white-peppered citrus tartness and lightly creamed barley-wheat malting. Sourdough yeast picks up flatbread-buttered ‘liquid sopapilla’ pastry sweetness while subtle lemon custard, orange spritzer and banana illusions waver. Corn-sugared maca root niche and floral-perfumed herbal notion caress zesty lemon finish. Serve with orange peel for extra flavor (in similar fashion as hefeweizen).
LONG TRAIL PUMPKIN ALE
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, unfussy soft-toned seasonal offers sedate pumpkin spicing to dry gourd acridity above mild caramelized wheat backdrop. Laidback cinnamon-nutmeg-clove expectancy and herbal ginger snip drowned out a tad by spritzy carbolic fizz.
WACHUSETT PUMPKAN ALE
Fair canned pumpkin ale leans on the vegetal side just a tad as roasted pumpkin-seeded tone overrides thin caramel-malted cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice seasoning. Acrid squash and zucchini illusions settle behind spritzy lemony hop soaping.
LANCASTER BAKED PUMPKIN ALE
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, well-integrated medium-full body balances cinnamon-spiced pumpkin pie expectancy with gingerbread cookie doughing and light vanilla accents. Roasted pumpkin, sweet potato pie and yam illusions simmer in the backdrop. Just a tad richer than usual autumnal competition. In the bottle, brown-sugared pumpkin pie sweetness promotes candy-glazed cinnamon spicing as lemony hop spritz prickles delicate nutmeg-allspice seasoning.
FLYING DOG THE FEAR IMPERIAL PUMPKIN ALE
On tap at 381 Main, trusty pumpkin pie-spiced medium-full body picks up honeyed Graham Cracker influence overriding dark-roasted chocolate malting and creamy vanilla snip as well as brown-sugared cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger seasoning. Vegetal gourd acridity and mild alcohol burn contrast sweet elements well. In bottle, 2015 version retained pumpkin-pureed nutmeg, ginger, clove and cinnamon spicing while increasing black chocolate roast. Ashen coal bittering deepens above Vienna-malted honeyed wheat spine, adding further dimension. 2019 version may’ve lacked decisiveness as brown-sugared cinnamon spicing and tidy nutmeg-ginger spicing reached mainstream compromise. However, 2020’s bolder endeavor brought tarry molasses bittering to lactose-sugared cocoa nibs, overshadowing pumpkin pie spicing for ginger-rooted sarsaparilla, anise and fern minting above ashen black patent malting.
