Rustic wine barrel-aged farmhouse ale fermented in oak foedres allows mild lemon lime acidity, vinous green grape tannins and wispy herbal salting to enhance tartly citric saison yeast of dry white wine alternative.
WEST KILL DOODLEBUG PILSNER
On tap at Growler & Gill, crisply clean well-watered bohemian pils relegates lemon rot souring with splashy lemon spritz and a dash of clay-hopped grass. Floury sourdough bottom gains mossy compost earthiness and wispy floral nuance. Offbeat original.
KENT FALLS YEESH PILSNER
On tap at Ambulance, clear pale-hued bohemian-styled moderation utilizes earthen Czech hop herbage to affect modest wet-grained pilsner malting and zesty lemon spritz.
ALLAGASH SUN DRIFT ALE
On tap at Ambulance, sour brettanomyces yeast enhances tart lemon zesting and earthen black tea adjunct above pale malted raw oats. A bit underwhelming, but quite welcoming for those just discovering sour ale virtues.
PLAN BEE BARN BEER WILD ALE
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, aggressive oak-aged sour ale matches vinous white grape musk and tart lemony limestone pucker to musty barnyard leathering for acidic brettanomyces yeast-induced rusticity.
MEAN MAX BARREL-AGED BARLEYWINE
Richly complex barleywine aged eleven months in bourbon barrels retains bold ethyl-burnt 12% ABV. Beautiful bourbon whiskey luster picks up heavily spiced brown chocolate and vanilla sweetness that nearly drowns out the citrus-derived Citra-Cascade hop briskness – but never to the detriment of its dewy peat whiskey expressiveness.
MEAN MAX BARREL AGED KILTS UP SCOTCH ALE
Humbler, less complex and less aggressive (at 10.5% ABV) than brewer’s barrel-aged barleywine, letting dewy scotch malting embrace spiced toffee sweetness, brown chocolate sugaring, dried fig-prune-raisin whims and wispy cola-pecan nuttiness. Modest bourbon, spiced rum and burgundy illusions add latent serenity.
MEAN MAX ROOSTERCOMB DOUBLE INDIA PALE ALE
Fine New England-styled IPA with lemon-candied pineapple tang and gentle crystal-sugared creaming reinforced by mild resinous lupulin-oiled pining. Floral peach, mango and grapefruit tang gains light herbal respite beneath the surface.
MEAN MAX LOWER WOLFJAW DOUBLE INDIA PALE ALE
Delectably centrist “moderately hopped” Imperial IPA layers floral citrus tang above bread-crusted pale malting and minor vodka-tinged alkaline astringency, retaining its creamily frothed head. Lemony grapefruit-peeled orange, tangerine and peach serenity provides spirited fruitfulness throughout.
MEAN MAX HEDGEHOG INDIA PALE ALE
Uniformly designed, though underwhelming and undetermined, midrange centrist. Lemony orange-grapefruit tang and candied citric-spiced lollipop tartness tepidly advance to contrast grassy herbal hop astringency and resinous pine snip.
MEAN MAX TAHAWUS INDIA PALE ALE
Thinnish English-styled IPA enlightens the front end with bright citrus tang. But its subdued grapefruit-orange stead and tart lemon rot souring lack immediacy. And any English influence (such as dewy earthen mustiness, biscuity pale malting and musky herbal hop rusticity) is negligible.
MEAN MAX ARTISTS ROCK RED ALE
Stylish caramel-spiced barley roast gains wavered candied orange tartness, herbal hop restraint and woodsy sawdust wisp for mannerly middling moderation.
