‘Intricate’ Belgian-spiced candi sugaring, sourdough breading and herbal peppering inundate delightful yellow-fruited moderation. Below lemon-soured orange compote tartness lies cotton-candied Vienna malt sweetness that contrasts wispy lemongrass-peppercorn salting and earthen musk.
Revived pre-prohibition recipe of clear copper-bronzed light body debunked by murky sour citric acidity. Rancid navel orange tartness, musky lemon bruise and tertiary apple rot foil leafy hop astringency. Musty earthen soiling deadens perfunctory nut-grained influence.
Novel fruited summer ale brings juicy blood orange tang to citric Cascade hop spritz. Sweetly tangy and sourly tart tangerine-candied midst picks up burdening plastique astringency. Subsidiary mandarin orange, tangerine and clementine illusions reinforce blood orange theme fairly well.
Redonkulous ultra-dry Berliner weiss grabs immediate attention flogging purple-labeled Teen Beat mag design while devising tartly acidic blueberry scour. Hooking up with gypsy Dane beer designer, Evil Twin, South Carolina’s finest brewery, Westbrook, bottles and kegs this mightily lactic magenta-pinked sour ale. Puckering lemon-juiced blueberry vinaigrette souring receives vinous green grape, oaken cherry and green apple pungency over crisp-watered minerality. Syrupy woodruff illusions waver beneath bubbly champagne sparkle. Here’s another interesting lactobacillus-injected competitor.
Mellower double bock styling allows chewy raisin sweetness to penetrate brown-sugared caramel malting contrasting mild dry-hopped bittering. Subtle fig, plum and prune illusions receive light maple molasses sweetening. Distant dark rum, toffee, pecan and marzipan undertones get splattered.
Adequate straw-paled moderation brings mild lemony orange-peeled tang to subtle white-peppered hop bittering and resinous pine nook. Ancillary pineapple, grapefruit, tangerine and mango illusions slither by. Crystalline-watered crisping, fresh herbal nuances and white-breaded spine further soften the mood.
Dynamic cold-filtered ‘strong pale lager’ loads dry-hopped tropical fruiting atop mild leafy hop bittering. Bright grapefruit-peeled orange rind and lemon pith impressions lean forward above soft-toned floral herbage. On the sweet side, ripened tangerine, peach, pineapple, mango, papaya and guava illusions shine on.
Pedestrian India Pale Ale/ amber lager mix stays too muted to truly entice. Dry lemon-limed tartness elevates ancillary orange, peach and grapefruit tang, but loses momentum to restrictive floral herbage. Cereal-grained cracked wheat spine slides into the grassy hop abyss.
Highly approachable Imperial India Pale Ale brings manageable piney hop bittering to lively pineapple-grapefruit juicing and misty orange peel tang. Sugared spruce tones and creamy crystal malts brighten ancillary peach, red apple, pear, mango and apricot fruiting. ‘Subtle’ alcohol burn restricted by ripe fruiting.
Nifty chocolate mint dessert beer spreads peppermint herbage across black cocoa and dark chocolate creaminess. Black patent malting and oats-flaked hop toasting mildly embitter rich mocha theme. Chewy cookie dough backdrop picks up ancillary black coffee, cappuccino, mocha latte and vanilla undertones. Wispy ginger and cinnamon nuances sprinkle minty chocolate-milked finish.
Delightfully silken coffee-roasted amber ale with mild oaken vanilla influence and brown-sugared maple glaze entrenching crisp soft-watered flow. Though spice-hopped coffee frontage gets neutralized by roasted chestnut-hazelnut-pecan pleasantries and recessive bourbon-port-sherry wining, its mocha-derived caramel latte, whipped cream espresso, creme brulee, toffee and coconut undertones prove amiable.
Modest bourbon-dried dark ale (part of the Clay Street Series) seems overly reliant on soured dark-roasted coffee frontage, soy-sauced chocolate malting and latent vanilla bean bittering. Any lasting oaken bourbon licks perish as cocoa powdered tartness gains momentum and fig-dried dark cherry nuances arrive.
