Bold amber-hazed pale body closer to brisk piney fruited IPA. Sharp grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and rising lemon peel tang heighten hop-oiled juniper berry bite. Bright pineapple, mango, tangerine, kiwi, pear, and quince fruiting sweetens caramel malt backdrop. Resinous wood-grained alcohol assertiveness plies grassy hop bottom.
OPA OPA BLUEBERRY LAGER
Mild blueberry tartness stays complacent over phenol citric-hopped acridity. Bigger swig reveals blueberry pie, blueberry seed, and blueberry muffin illusions above sweet cornbread bottom. Light cranberry pucker adds minor sour-fruited pungency.
SHINER BLACK LAGER
Blandly watered down schwarzbier styling stays soapy, indecisive and indistinct. Washed out chocolate malting and dirty peat soiling cloak oily coffee drear. Peat mossy bottom goes flat.
(CLIPPER CITY) HEAVY SEAS LETTER OF MARQUE 2011 (CASK VERSION)
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, softly creamed copper-toned Belgian dubbel (cask version) brings mild floral waft to receptive dried apricot, medicinal cherry and navel orange tones. Dainty pilsner malting underscores dehydrated fruiting.
(ATLANTA) LAUGHING SKULL AMBER ALE
Indistinct, but not unwelcome, stylistic changeup, rich for its class, but completely desolate up-front. Bittersweet apple-skinned naval orange, pink grapefruit, peach, and cherry tartness evaporates above chewy caramel buttering. Minor vegetal-wafted fungi sourness befits tertiary celery, rhubarb and spinach musk. Frugal flavoring stays at back of the throat. Under Red Brick banner (2013), leathery tobacco-roasted minerality brought dryer rye-breaded ESB-like profile to the citric-slighted fore.
SHINER KOSMOS RESERVE
Vapid dry-hopped Bavarian-styled pale lager lacks prevailing flavor profile. Instead, washed-out citric tartness ekes out space beside faded green grape esters, diluted Granny Smith apple pucker, and distant grapefruit dab. Earthen vegetal dulling and astringent honeyed malting pick up minor dishwater solvency.
ORANGE BLOSSOM PILSNER
Perfectly bland summer afternoon lawnmower fare with sticky-tongued orange blossom honey mildness above thin white wheat base gets lost in phenol hop astringency. Trifling orange-tangerine soaping, vegetal maize-dried snip and cardboard backdrop lag behind. Brewed by South Carolina’s Thomas Hooker for Orlando-based nanobrewery.
IRON HILL AFTERNOON DELIGHT IMPERIAL COFFEE PORTER
Lusty mahogany-shaded prune-hued dry porter with rich Nicaraguan and Sumatran coffee bean intrigue plies cedar-burnt hop char and nutty mocha continuance to bourbon-wined molasses sapping. Chocolate milk, vanilla bean, cocoa nibs, soy, and black cherry subsidy rounds out ashen wood-smoked backdrop. Cappuccino, espresso, and dark chocolate elevate extremely penetrative coffee roast finish. An incredible nightcap.
OMMEGANG APHRODITE
‘Ethereal’ dry-bodied fruit ale plies lactic brettanomyces yeast funk to tart white-peppered raspberry vinaigrette sourness, bubbly champagne-like fizz and brimstone limed salting for interestingly complex, burgundy-hued, pinkish-headed, pilsner-malted lightweight. Oaken cherry, green apple, green grape, grains of paradise and Japanese pear nuances given vinegary solvent-like pucker and woody barnyard parch to punctuate sour ale tendencies.
BLUE MOON SUMMER HONEY WHEAT
Mediocre straw-paled summer seasonal brings thin honey wheat moderation to washed-out mandarin orange, lemon zest and tangerine lag, becoming astringent by cloying clover-honeyed coughdrop finish. Nominal white-peppered coriander spicing fades in the stretch, abating citric dollop. Serve to blander tastes only.
LAGUNITAS SONOMA FARMHOUSE HOP STOOPID
LAGUNITAS LUCKY 13.ALT
Beefed-up alternative version of Lucky 13 Red Ale posing as American strong ale brings woody Amarillo hop dryness to richer spiced fruits. Floral-bound pineapple, grapefruit and peach tropicalia increases honey-roasted caramel malt sweetness contrasting parched oaken bittering.