Jubilant full-bodied merriment’s the pride of Strong Island. Cognac-spiked bruised orange overtones provide a tart lead-in above pine-sapped bittering hops and spicy floral nuances. Ripe cherry, cantaloupe, pineapple, peach and melon illusions add depth while buttery Chardonnay undertones receive a strong ‘whiskey back,’ affecting the fresh fruited finish, where a brazenly boozy alcohol burn awaits.
Well-rounded medium-bodied tropical-fruited refresher stays less hop-embittered than defensive war handle suggests. Soft-toned grapefruit/orange-peeled bittering receives grassy hop respite contrasting juicy pineapple-tangerine-peach-apple tang sweetening its creamy malt subsidy. Subdued ethanol crescendo ensues.
Cruddy fruited lager (with heightened 12% alcohol flow) tastes like cheap corn-syrupy malt liquor dreck. Cloy sugaring ruins advertised pomegranate influence and slushy strawberry-cranberry slurp. Miserable whiskey-backed honey wheat base and dreadful vodka niche further deride Lithuanian stinker.
Leaning more towards dried fruiting than most banana-sweetened dark wheat ales, its advertised walnut essence gets upended by an overriding fig-sugared green raisin and purple grape souring that works its way into creamy Vienna malts. Banana nut bread, honeyed praline and almond illusions provide background subtleties.
Particularly peculiar soured stout (contentiously listed as a Belgian dark ale) provides cocoa-powdered chocolate chalking to wood-burnt molasses sapping, ashen nuttiness and dingy basement funk. Ancillary chicory, carob and ice coffee illusions and distant lemony tartness fill out mocha finish.
Solid Baltic Porter/ India Pale Ale hybrid (not far removed from a Cascadian dark ale) brings pine-fruited hop spicing, latent wood burnt bittering and earthen herbal respite to sweet mocha molasses sugaring. At its center, tangy grapefruit-pineapple-melon-cherry conflux contrasts dark chocolate malting. Clandestine hazelnut-chestnut-walnut conflux and mild maple molasses nuance fill out backend. Well-balanced medium-full body introduced in 2012 just after trendy Black IPA fad settled down a tad.
Heavenly IPA-like bitter in a can will please hearty hopheads. More robust than a stylistically typical pale ale, allowing its sharp piney citric bite to criss-cross tangy apricot, tangerine, pineapple and quince sweetness. Increasingly effective grapefruit rind and orange peel bittering enhances resinous wood dryness and spicy tropical fruiting above saltine base.
Fine canned version streamlines baked-breaded sourdough malting with resinous hop bittering, coarse grain-husked minerality and wafting cologne musk. Herbal snips and vegetal wisps glide through the salt-watered briskness as well. Serve to anyone intrigued by Heineken’s pungent hop bitterness or to less aggressive Dortmunder lager imbibers. Betters any marketed cream ale.