Engaging ‘cherry-inspired’ cream ale makes for fine fruity malt beverage with its fizzy soda-like pop and sinewy corn syruping. Sweet and sour red cherry ripens fig-spiced apple, cranberry, raspberry, blueberry and strawberry illusions, settling into champagne-like Chambord liqueur slumber. Beneath, crayon-like plasticity seeps into astringent saison yeast profile.
Multi-dimensional British barleywine aged in apple brandy barrels picks up candied coughdrop sweetness over rich cherry pureed whiskey boozing and chewy caramel malting. Candied apple finish gains sugary overload.
Vacillating Belgian knockoff wavers between brisk lemon-peeled effervescence and herbaceous tea-like seduction. Dry pepper-spiced grassy hop prickle reinforces remedial citric-soured hard candy coating, tart baked apple warmth and red-wined nashi pear graining. Musty earthen barnyard minerality brings puckering bettanomyces-like funk to latent ester-y grape murk.
Iffy ruddy-browned barleywine stylistically closer to an Imperial IPA with its aggressive hop-oiled fruiting. A delicate sherry insistence coats ripe pineapple, grapefruit, apricot and peach illusions above creamy cocoa-sugared crystal malting. Caramelized vanilla buttering pleats ancillary raisin-breaded niche and dainty floral bouquet.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, improved updated version of Gordon (now listed as an Imperial Red/ Imperial IPA hybrid) got christened G’Knight in 2012. Orange-bruised cherry-berry ripeness infiltrates sugary malt sweetness to helles bock-like biscuit-y Graham Cracker spine. Sharp hop bite deepens fruity assertion.
Another winningly soft-toned wood-bareled elixir from Innis & Gunn’s reserves. Sweet bourbon-aged Scottie brings mellow Scotch and peat whiskey tones to oaken vanilla buttering as well as advertised ‘apple-candied marzipan’ bluster. Whiskey-soaked chery nicety provides ancillary relief.
Frustratingly chaotic, yet stylistically ubiquitous, limited edition (2012) saison places cluttered fruit lacquering above salty white-peppered hop bite. Cloying raspberry rasp picks up ancillary orange-bruised apple, peach cobbler and banana illusions as well as vanilla pastry sugaring. Buttered rum spicing adds alcohol luster.
Intriguing Belgian-styled witbier with wheat-dried barnyard-like farmhouse attributes blends floral citric pleasantries into crystal malt sugaring. Lemony mandarin orange rind bittering softly affects tangy pineapple, banana and grapefruit tropicalia. Herbal-honeyed hawthorn bush, heather and hibiscus flowering sweetens frolicking fruitiness while contrasting roughhewn alfalfa, whey and horse blanket illusions, deepening its full-bodied conviction.
Fully charged West Coast India Pale Ale with juicy tropical fruiting dovetailing piney hop bittering and boozy ethanol burn. Brisk juniper bite enhances orange-peeled ruby red grapefruit tang, ripe pineapple-peach-apple conflux and sweet-scented floral potpourri over crystal malt sugaring for a well balanced medium-full body.
Copacetic malty dessert treat contrasts buttery caramelized molasses sweetness against coarse mocha fruited dryness. Brown-sugared fig spicing, prune-stewed raisin pureeing and almond-toasted coconut oiling saturate busy brown chocolate midst. Tertiary red grape, brown pear, apple strudel and bruised banana illusions tempt backend brandy-soaked whiskey boozing.
Gallant golden-hazed ‘wild farmhouse ale’ stays less bitter than standard India Pale Ale fare thanks to rich barnyard-dried mineral-grained herbage. Black-peppered basil, rosemary, peppercorn and thyme saddle pine-needled grapefruit souring as well as floral-dusted green apple, white grape and pineapple fruiting above sweet honeyed malt backbone.
Fair springtime moderation for sweaty lawn mowers and beer-bellied boaters. Lacking a certain punch, slick lemony grapefruit sugaring overrides advertised ‘passion fruit-mango-peach’ tropicalia and grassy hop salting. Honeyed caramel malt backbone sweetens zesty citric aspect and earthen herbal nip.