Beer in My Belly

Style: Suffolk Dark Ale/English Farmhouse Stout/Stingo Ale?

7.0% ABV

32 IBU’s

16° Plato

Bottle Size: 750 ml

Yeast: Renaud

Re-fermentation: Rockpile

From: Chelsea, MA

Brewer’s Note: “Mystic Descendant is a beer descended from the cultural history of the Boston harbor area.  A dry Irish stout meets an English porter and is then fermented in the fermentorium with our saison yeast with a touch of the ubiquitous ingredient from the area’s past: molasses.  The result is a uniqe beer; it has more dark fruit than a porter and less roast than a traditional stout, while having a different ester profile than a Belgian stout.  We thus dubbed our recipe a Suffolk Dark Ale, as an homage to our immigrant ancestors.  If Mystic Saison is our local answer to white wine, Descendant is our red. The subtle molasses works with the saison yeast and dark malts to create a rich cherrywood flavor and aromatic finish.  It can stand up to red meats or relax by the fire as the days get cooler and the leaves turn to welcome New England’s finest season.”

The beer’s label is similar in design to Saison Renaud’s label, and equally as beautiful and “art-nouveau-like” in style.  I love the fonts, and it handles any crowding it might have perfectly.  I love the tree roots splitting out from beneath the beer’s name, and I really just love the all-around class of this bottle.  It is certainly worthy of the shelf and should be prominently displayed as it features modern artistic sensibility with medieval beauty.  Keep this bottle.

The beer pours a molasses color and sits in the glass as mahogany brown with a massive head of light khaki-colored bubbles of all shapes and sizes, which takes its time in dissipating.  The head leaves a ringed lacing of fat soapy bubbles on the glass. In body, the beer appears too dark for light to penetrate it, though it did seem clean as the beer was being poured.  That being said, the folks at Mystic are the wizards of yeast, and they don’t filter their beers, so I’m willing to bet there are a few floaties hanging out in this beer.  On the nose, the beer smells initially like a metallic pear, but not in a bad way.  As you shove your nose in this beer it opens up into soft cocoa scents with touches of earthy espresso and dark fruity notes.  The smell is soft and subtle on the nose, much like an Irish dry stout is, but this smell is also deeply complex and interesting with yeast esters.  On the tongue, the beer tastes sweet and then tart, and then slightly bitter with roast.  In flavor it begins like a classic stout with dry roasty chocolate and coffee flavors and even a touch of coffee, but this is then blanketed as the taste moves forward and yeast esters plunge onto the tongue to suggest funky dark fruit flavors with a slightly metallic twinge.  Pear and even slight peach flavors can also be tasted in the esters.  The beer finishes closer to a dry stout with bitter roast, but with a nice tart dark fruit kick that adds complexity to the finish.  The aftertaste is fairly soft and sweet with light fruit flavors and a faint reminder of dried roast malt with a touch of smoke.  In the mouth the beer feels fluffy with medium carbonation and a slight pucker from the acid.  In body the beer feels just about medium, and after the beer leaves the mouth is left slightly dry but puckering.  Overall, this is a fantastically bizarre beer.  It’s not an Irish dry stout at all, though it does show some qualities of a dry stout.  It has amazing funky esters, and could quite well be the start of a new style.  A New England Dark Ale!  Or a Suffolk Dark Ale if we must call it that…   Whatever it is, it is super drinkable and tasty, with amazing and flavorful yeast character.  Try this beer!  It is bizarre and tasty!

4.01/5

Style: American Wild Ale/ Flanders-Style Red Ale?

8.9% ABV

Aged in an Oak Foudre

From: Portland, ME

Brewer’s Note: “FV 13 marks our first venture into the world of foudre beers. Foudres are giant oak tanks used for aging (this one holds 2700 gallons.) FV 13 is a blend of wild yeast and bacteria, a base beer with lots of malt character, and about four years of patience. The finished beer is copper in color, with an aroma of cherries and caramel. The flavor is a blend of sweet and tart, with notes of fruit and caramelized sugar. The full mouthfeel gives way to a tart, mouth drying finish.”

The beer’s label is cool.  I love the font for the beer’s title and I love the big old foudre logo.  The rest of the fonts are simple but funky and easy to read.  There is a bit of clutter from the boring text on the side of the label, though, which is too bad.  Overall, this label is definitely worthy of scrapbooking, and is worth considering for the shelf as well.

The beer pours a ruddy orange/red with a big tight creamy yellow/white head of tiny, small packed bubbles.  In body the beer appears clean but hazy with lots of bubbles racing to replenish the head.  On the nose, the beer smells of funky cherry fruit leather with a smell resting below these scents and adding a malty backbone to the yeast funk.  There is a touch of deep funk in this beer as well that I can’t decide if I like it or not… It is prickly on the nose with hints of pineapple, then pine, and then compost, but it is not particularly displeasing, just a little odd.  On the tongue, the beer tastes funky acidic and then very oddly bitter.  At first I thought I might have an infected bottle, but as I let the beer sit and I sipped it more, some of the off flavors, oddly, mellowed out and the beer became not bad.  I have had this beer before on tap, however, and it was far fruitier and more interesting then.  In flavor the beer begins with tart green apple but then opens into weird grassy bitter and pear and apricot notes, with funky cherry fruit leather thrown in.  The beer then mellows out into smooth malty brown sugar notes with light caramel and funky notes thrown in.  Throughout the taste, the bitter occasionally become unappetizingly medicinal with a touch of compost added in, which takes away from the taste.  The tart green apple flavors seem to linger in the mouth throughout the taste and then return in the aftertaste to leave a nice pucker along with a lingering bitter medicinal flavoring.  In the mouth the beer feels on the heavier side of light with prickly carbonation that is soft and fluffy except for its bite.  The mouth is left puckering and oddly bitter with a weird saltiness as well.  There is a decent amount of saliva filling the mouth to neutralize the acid.  Overall, this is a weird beer.  I don’t think this one held up as well in the bottle, and I probably wouldn’t spend the money on it.  This is an alright beer but it has off tastes and a weird, chemically bitterness that gets better but is never that great on the tongue.  That being said, I only realized now that this beer is 8.9% alcohol, which is impressive.  This is an interesting beer.  If Allagash can perfect bottling what they served on tap for this beer, then it will be amazing, but as it is, it falls short.  An okay beer that I would like to see improve.  I think I got a bad bottle actually, but even without the off flavors this beer seemed to have something missing.

3.7/5

Style: Saison/American Farmhouse Ale

6.5% ABV

Bottle Size: 350 ML

From Chelsea, MA

Brewer’s Note: “A saison for the summer. Made with pilsner malt and Saaz hops…it’s similar to a pilsner with more spice and light fruit.  What you’ll find in this bottle is a tribute to our brewery’s smallest and most mystic worker – The Renaud yeast strain.  Pilsner malt and noble saaz hops paint the background canvas on which Renaud’s talent is displayed. Like the ancestot for which it is named, Renaud has a French soul yet was raised in New England. Its feisty spirit finds full expression in this traditionally made saison.  Dry and aromatic, Saison Renaud celebrates the warm seasons and is a worthy stop on our quest to rediscover the best of pre-industrial brewing.  Proost!”

The beer’s label is awesome. I love the “art nouveau” style that Mystic has adopted for its bottles, and I love their choice of fonts.  My only worry is that the text on the back is a little hard to read, but not impossible.  Clutter is kept relatively under control, and what clutter there is works terrifically with the label.  I love the arches, I love the Mystic symbol, and I love the hop bine garnish.  This bottle is worthy of your shelf for sure!

The beer pours a pale yellow with a cloudy body full of floating chunks.  The beer pours with a mammoth head of tiny egg-shell white bubbles that stay there and do not leave, creating a bump out of my glass.  They are still there and it has been ten minutes…  There is also a maelstrom of bubbles pumping up to the head like a swarm of bees to honey.  On the nose, the beer smells lightly of sweet funk with big grassy and spicy hop notes.  The sweet fruit esters in the nose move from light citric orange into more pineapple-like notes.  Very light bread funk sits below the other smells and gives the beer a faint lemon-butter touch.  Though this may be because I just had mimosas this morning, my initial whiff of the beer keeps reminding me of the orange citrus and yeast funk of a mimosa, from that initial sniff this beer then blossoms into awesome complexity.  On the tongue, the beer tastes nicely balanced with a light sweet funk that quickly dries into grassy bitters and a light citric and funky acidity.  In flavor the beer begins as crisp light bread malt but then blossoms with grassy bitters and funky saison touches of lemon bread, hay, and even a touch of pineapple and orange juice.  The finish is lemon-buttered bread with a touch of hay, and the aftertaste is soft with lovely bitter hay and light bread notes.  On the mouth, the beer feels on the light side of medium with an effervescent carbonation that keeps the beer in check, and a lovely creaminess is also felt in the carbonation.  The mouth is left slightly tingly from the carbonation, with a nice dryness.  Overall, this is a great saison, and a terrific example of what a yeast can do to a beer.  I love the complexity of the esters and the lovely drinkability of this beer.  This is a great summer beer.  It’s a little too heavy to knock back, but that is fine by me.  This beer is fantastic and you should try it.  Another success by Mystic, the Wizards of Yeast!

4.31/5

Style: Rauchbier with 100% Vermont Maple Syrup added

6.0% ABV

From: Framingham, MA and Warren, VT

Brewer’s Note: “This beer was brewed as a collaboration between Jack’s Abby and Lawson’s Finest Liquids. Valley Malt malted all the 2-row malt in addition to the specially smoked malt with hand-sourced wood from VT. Brewed with one gallon of maple syrup per barrel of beer. An addition of lactose sugar and brown malt rounds out a beer that tastes great from breakfast till dessert. Enjoy!”

The beer’s label is a classic Jack’s Abby label.  It is weird how the bottle provides no information about IBU’s or OG (both mainstays on the Jack’s Abby labels) but odder still is the lack of an ABV.  I suppose they get away with it by calling the beer a “malt beverage brewed with maple syrup,” but I still thought they had to list it somewhere.  The label can be scrapbooked, but is probably not worth shelving.

The beer pours a dark candied red, with brown highlights that hint at the maple syrup within the beer.  The beer pours with a nice head of medium sized and creamy bubbles the color of whip cream mixed with maple syrup.  The head leaves a minimum amount of lacing on the glass.  In body the beer is lager-clear with some tiny particles floating about the glass and a light haze presumably also from the maple syrup.  On the nose, the beer smells of sweet bacon and maple syrup glazed ham.  The smoked malts smell very similar to Jack’s Abby’s Fire in the Ham rauchbier, just with a sweeter and syrupy twist.  There is a definite briny salt character mixed in with the bacon smells and that is also quite inviting.  On the tongue, the beer tastes sweet and salty with a very light touch of acid and bitter grassy hops.  In flavor, the beer begins as sweet apple juice flavors, quickly building into smoked malt flavors and then blossoming into maple glazed bacon with salty ham on the side.  The finish brings a kiss of sweet and syrupy maple and light smoked bread flavor from the malt, and the aftertaste is clean and light featuring a kiss of maple syrup and some slight briny ham flavors.  In the mouth the beer feels light, maybe just a touch below the light side of medium, except for a little congealing that happens on the back of the tongue.  The carbonation is smooth with just a light prickle to help keep the sweetness caramelly and not cloying.  The mouth is left lightly damp with some smoky dryness on the cheeks.  Overall, this is a beautiful beer with terrific maple characters and some great smoked malt character, and a very great amount of drinkability.  It would pair beautifully with breakfast foods, and is definitely worthy of cooking with.  It is an all-around enjoyable smoked lager with some beautiful fresh maple flavors.  Try this beer.

4.1/5

Style: American Weisse aged on strawberries, kiwis, and dried hibiscus flowers

5.5% ABV

From: Everett, MA

Batch #4

Bottled on: 5/6/13

Brewer’s Note: “Sold exclusively at our brewery in Everett, Ever Weisse is what most beers are not – hopped minimally, soured extensively, pink in color, aged on hand-chopped fruit, brewed only once in a tiny batch, and available at at only one location. It sips fruity and tart, with a touch of tangy sweetness. It does not taste like other beers do, nor should it.”

Beer’s label is cool, but a little crowded.  I love the Night Shift symbol, and I like the font choices.  They are simple, and almost look like they were handwritten, which makes them fun to read.  I also love the food pairings, cellaring notes, tasting notes, etc… that the glass provides, I just feel like there is too many letters on the bottle, and they draw the eye away from the beautiful simplicity of the Night Shift logo.  Still, I love the color scheme for this bottle, and overall I still like this bottle.  It is worthy of scrapbooking for sure, and is worthy of considering for the shelf.

Beer pours a beautiful reddish pink, almost like ruby red grapefruit juice.  It pours with a fizzy, eggshell white head of big soapy bubbles that fades away slowly.  The head leaves a very light lacing of thin sticky bubbles that form clouds on the sides of the glass.  The beer’s body seems clean of particles, but hazy with no site of the other side of the glass.  On the nose the beer smells like ripe and jammy strawberry.  It is thick on the nose, and beautifully fruity, and though it is one dimensional with pure strawberry and maybe just a kiss of citric kiwi, it is still a big and beautiful smell that is rich and complicated in its own right.  On the tongue the beer tastes tartly acidic and then fruity sweet with a lingering pucker but no traces of bitterness.  In flavor the beer begins as puckering citric sour but then blossoms into huge strawberry flavors with touches of fuzzy sweet kiwi fruit and a very faint hint of savory hibiscus.  The finish and aftertaste bring more of the subtle hibiscus flavors into the mouth alongside ripe strawberry skin and acidic kiwi fruit.  The malt in this, of course, is light, but does give a faint touch of grainy breadiness.  The aftertaste softly rings with lingering hibiscus and even fainter touches of strawberry.

In the mouth, the beer feels sharply citric, but on the light side of medium in body.  The real weight in the beer’s body comes from the real fruit that was added to the beer, and which (oddly enough) can be felt as a slight graininess on the tongue.  The carbonation is sharp and prickly on the tongue, working to keep in order the massive, ripe, and sweet fruit flavors of the beer, and it achieves this nicely.  The mouth is left puckering from the sourness of the beer, and also begging for more beer.  Overall this is a beautiful example of the burgeoning American Weisse style.  It is fruity, sour, and very refreshing while still being puckeringly refreshing.  This beer tastes great.  It is what all fruit beers should be with its beautiful fresh fruit flavors and its thirst quenching beer touches.  Try this beer for sure.

4.36/5

Style: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter

10.0% ABV55 IBU’s

OG: 23.5° Plato

Aged in Old Weller 107 bourbon barrels

March 2013

From: Framingham, MA

Brewer’s Note: “Big, bold, black and barrel aged. A lengthy conditioning period in bourbon barrels creates a silky smooth chocolaty mouth feel enhanced by the use of oats and brown sugar. Noticeable sweetness gets balanced by roasted malt and hop bitterness. Additional flavors include bourbon, vanilla and oak.”

The beer’s label is a classic Jack’s Abby label.  It’s nice, but nothing to write home about.  I’m also slightly confused by the choice of a light gray color for the background… wouldn’t an inky black color fit this beer better.  The label can be scrapbooked but I wouldn’t put it on a shelf.

The beer pours an inky black with a nice had of medium sized, khaki bubbles that settle down at about a half a finger’s width, which is surprising given the beer’s 10% ABV and the fact that it was barrel aged.  In body, this beer is impenetrable to the eye, and the beer’s head leaves a curtain of lacing full of slippery, small bubbles on the sides of the glass.  On the nose, the beer smells of roasted black coffee and big boozy malt with touches of vanilla bourbon and slight hint of bitter hops and oak.  The bourbon isn’t huge in the nose, but it is nice and blends well with the malt of the beer.  On the tongue, the beer tastes boozy-bourbon sweet with just a touch of bitter roast and some slight acidic bites.  In flavor, this beer speaks of booze, bourbon, and roasted malts.  The flavor begins as sweet roasted malt with a touch of chocolate and honey, but this builds into practically cloying boozy bourbon with hints of vanilla and coconut, and a very strong touch of alcohol.  The finish is bourbon sweet and full of boozy heat as it runs down the throat, and the aftertaste is slightly sticky sweet with lingering bourbon, coffee and chocolate, but also with alcohol hot in the deep back of the throat.  In the mouth, the beer feels smooth and velvety with just a faint bite from the carbonation.  It is on the light side of heavy in body and definitely carries a clean lager feel in the mouth.  Where a stout of this size would have considerable grip and a chewiness, this beer is silky smooth, almost like a fine hot chocolate in feel.  The mouth is, however, left sticky and wet with a lingering heat burn from the alcohol.  This beer is most certainly a sipper, in case anyone was overlooking its 10% ABV.  Overall, this is a good beer.  It’s really a nice sipper, and is probably prime to drink in the early winter when you are looking for a bit of a warmth from your drink.  Having just had 2012’s BCBS the other day, I can actually say that there is a similarity between the two, though not definitive.  Framinghammer is definitely of lager stock with a beautiful and smooth mouthfeel that helps the drinkability of this beer, and it is also about 5% less in alcohol than BCBS, but it carries a nice bourbon heat and some nice bourbon flavors mixed in with thick malty flavors similar to BCBS.  Personally, I would advise sitting on a bottle of this a little bit to let the booze settle down and so that it is winter, but that would probably kill some of the bourbon flavors.  Right now I’m not craving the boozy beers, but I would certainly revisit this beer come late fall/early winter and I would certainly sip it in front of a fire.  It is a good beer, and fantastically cheap for a bourbon barrel-aged beer.  Jack’s Abby has got another great thing here, and I can’t wait to try the coffee version of this beer.

4.28/5

Style: American Wild Ale

Base Beer: Rye Ale

7.8% ABV

From: Orange County, CA

Brewer’s Note: “We brewed this ale with around 40% rye as a base malt and let our sour yeast and bacteria eat away at it in oak barrels for over a year creating a sour ale with a complex character of rye spice, oak and a subtle funk.”

The beer’s label is a little different from other Bruery bottles I have reviewed.  It is less Alice and Wonderland, and more Wright Brothers, if that makes any sense.  I still like the main title font, but I find the other fonts a little boring, and definitely crowded.  The colors are cool for the rye theme of the beer, and I actually love the things in the background.  Overall though, this label is mediocre and not my favorite from the Bruery.  It is worthy of labeling but not for the shelf.

The beer pours an amber orange with syrupy colors and a nice finger-width head of creamy tiny bubbles.  The beer’s body is clear and practically crystal clean with just a slight haze from the malt and yeast.  The beer’s head leaves a lacing sticky dots and strings.  On the nose the beer smells like a light gueuze, with beautiful funk and cherry leather notes and a faint tinge of spice.  The smell is not as strong as a gueuze, but it is still beautiful and funky.  Leather is definitely the dominant smell in the nose, but it is paired with a sweeter funk and some light spicy rye.  On the tongue, the beer tastes funky sweet with a light underlying rye spice and some nice acidity.  In flavor, the beer begins as sweet, fruity funk that moves into distinguished leather notes that stick to the tongue and only give light hints of cherry.  There is an underlying spice from the rye which is light and bready, but I honestly can’t say if I would have noticed it unless the beer specifically had “Rye” in the name.  The funk does hit almost cloying notes as it builds, touching citric lemon and some slight pineapple notes in the start of the taste.  The finish is sweet lemon citrus with a touch of leather and then a final burp of spicy rye with a faint touch of bread and chocolate.  In the mouth, the beer is medium plus in body with a creamy carbonation and a great citric pucker at the end without the citric bite.  This beer feels really nice in the mouth.  Overall this beer is a terrific sour with a great mouthfeel that doesn’t bite the hell out of your mouth with acid.  This is a very balanced and tasty sour.  Try this beer, but share it.  It is worth the money.

4.26/5

Style: Saison fermented with freshly juiced honeydew melons

6.8% ABV

From: Everett, MA

Brewer’s Note: “Honeydew debuted at our taproom on 4/27/13. We kegged all of Batch #1, so it’s only available in growlers to start (and will be hitting select bars around Boston). If it’s received well, we plan to bottle Batch #2!”

Beer’s label is the infamous Night Shift logo, which is amazing.  It’s an owl with a hop cone butt, and I absolutely adore it.  I’m not sure why it has taken me this long to review Night Shift’s beers, but I would like to say that they are an awesome group of guys that are doing some really funky and good beers.  I love how they are throwing caution to the wind and just brewing strange stuff right off the bat.  I feel like everyone in the brewing industry these days is saying “Start with your basics and build your way up.”  But these guys are doing funky fruit beer that I like drinking, and they are doing it really well, without developing a killer IPA or Pale Ale, or even a Wit.  I’m excited to dive into the world of Night Shift.

The beer pours muddy orange, merging into an amber brown.  It pour with a nice finger’s width head of creamy white bubbles and leaves a lacing of light splotchy bubbles.  In body the beer is slightly dark and cloudy with just hints of the other side of the glass coming through.  On the nose, the beer smells of sweet melon with just slight hint of the vegetal musk of melon.  The malt is light and caramelly beneath it with touches of biscuit hitting the nose.  Hops seem light and spicy in the beer, giving a nice finishing prickle to the smell.  On the tongue, the beer tastes sweet with a touch acidic and a light closing bitterness.  In flavor the beer begins as sweet melon and really just bumps the flavor fuller and fuller, never closing on a cloying level and always balancing itself with the melons more vegetal flavors as well.  The yeast is light and bready in the taste with hints of citrus bread that blend with the beer’s melon very nicely, and there is also slight spice that is presumably coming off the hops.  The finish blends the yeast and melon flavors further into a refreshing bite while light herbal bitterness does build up and hiccup into the aftertaste which is slightly grassy with lingering vegetal flavors from the melon and a touch of sweet melon as well.  In the mouth, the beer feels on the heavier side of medium with nice creaminess from the carbonation and a slight slickness that presumably comes from the added melons.  The mouth is left slick and damp with a decent amount of salivation coming from the acid of the beer.  Overall, this is my favorite melon beer that I have sampled so far.  It marries beer and melon beautifully and makes it very drinkable and refreshing.  This is not a session beer by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a very drinkable and definitely worthy of a summer’s day spent relaxing.  Try this beer!

For fun, I did try pairing it with some leftover pizza from the amazing Flying Saucer Pizza Company in Salem, MA.  The pairings were actually great, but I did three different types of pizza and don’t feel like writing about them.  Overall, a saison is probably not the ideal pairing for a pizza, but it did bring out some great spice in the pizza, while having its melon flavors dampened.  It was an interesting pairing.

4.19/5

Style: Fruit Beer, Watermelon

4.9% ABV

17 IBU’s

Hops: Magnum

Bittering Hops: Columbus

Malts: Two-Row Pale, White Wheat

Yeast: Top Fermenting Ale Yeast

Other: Watermelon

Brewer’s Note: “Like Lady Liberty, we stand for independence and perseverance. In the pursuit of innovative beer, there is no obstacle too great. No journey too long. No fruit too gigantic. This American wheat beer is brewed with real watermelon, for a flavor that’s surprisingly crisp, dry and refreshing—summer in a can./ Hell or High Watermelon Wheat is our summer seasonal beer available from April through September in six pack cans and on draft. We start by brewing a classic American wheat beer, which undergoes a traditional secondary fermentation using fresh watermelon. A straw-colored, refreshing beer with a kiss of watermelon aroma and flavor.”

The beer’s can label is a work of graphic art.  I love the colors, I love the “cartooning” style, and the off kilter font looks amazing.  The 21^st Amendment logo is a little boring compared with the rest of the label, but that is excusable, as it is a pretty cool logo on its own.  The can also packs a lot of text in right underneath the beer’s name, which is a little confusing and cluttered, but it does leave the rest of the can to display the beautiful graphic.  All in all, this can is a work of art and is completely worthy of the shelf.

The beer pours a clean, pale yellow with a hint of orange.  The beer forms a rocky head of slightly creamy white bubbles.  The beers body is nearly crystal clear with just a faint hazing, and the beer’s head leaves a lacing of sticky dry bubbles.  On the nose, the beer smells tart and citric with a nice sweet underlying melon scent that gives a touch of grassy hops.  There is also a slight jammy smell that is a part of the melon smell, but I assume that is just the fruit in the beer.  From the can, the sweet fruit is more pronounced with a touch of vegetal scents. On the tongue the beer tastes sweet with a light tartness and some lovely distinctions between the calmer sweet of the malt and the fruitier sweet of the melon.  In flavor the beer begins as sweet bread and then slowly moves into distinct bitter watermelon flavors, which is impressive.  There is a light citric tartness underlying the flavors, but the water melon builds into a big, sweet crescendo in the finish, leaving the aftertaste clean with a slight hint of lingering malt sweetness.  From the can it tastes more metallic and chemically from the can.  It definitely tastes better from the glass.  In the mouth the beer feels crisp and on the heavier side of light in body with a touch of citric spritz from the medium carbonation levels.  The mouth is left clean and a little tingly with some slight bitterness.  Overall, this a great crisp summer beer that incorporates the watermelon flavor beautifully.  It is not too sweet, just a touch tart, and just a touch bitter and is great to drink.  It is a great fruit beer with not too much overpowering fruit.  Try this beer.

4.1/5

Style: American West Coast IPA

7.2% ABV

Hops: Topaz, Columbus, Centennial, Simcoe

From: Newburyport, MA

Brewer’s Note: “An assertive and hoppy west coast-style India Pale Ale. Bright hop aromas and flavors fade to a brief, smooth malt undertone and a clean, crisp, slightly bitter finish. This beer is brewed to bite you back!”

The beer’s can is similar in style to the Plum Island Belgian White but has a funky green coloring and a cool green fly with a hopcone butt.  The background seems to be of giant fat trees, though I can’t quite tell if that’s what it is or not.  Again, I like this can, it’s got a funky design and is different enough from Newburyport’s other can’s that I can distinguish it, while still clearly being from the Newburyport Brewing Company.  This can is worthy of the shelf!

The beer pours a syrupy orange, almost amber, with a huge sticky, cream white head that seems to be yellowing and is made up of different sized bubbles.  The head leaves a sticky, fat, web-like lacing of fluffy bubbles.  In body, the beer is clear but darker and slightly murky.  On the nose, the beer smells resinous, like a big ass, wet pine cone shoved into a light caramel bread.  The pine is resinous and sticky on the nose, and very inviting.  From the can, the smell is a little crisper with a touch of citrus.  On the tongue the beer tastes bitter and dry with some nice bitter hoppy acids and a very faint touch of malt sweetness.  In flavor, the beer begins as slightly sweet bread and then explodes into ruinous, bitter pine that bites crisply across the palate moving from pine needles to pine cone with a touch of caramel.  An earthy, herbal bitter also travels in the mouth and rounds out the bitter flavors, providing some nice balance to the bitters.  The finish is bitter pine with a touch of medicinal flavors, which continues into the aftertaste and becomes slightly more medicinal, but in a nice and linger way.  From the can, the beer carries more citric flavors that add grapefruit flavors to the mouth and actually make the beer even better in my opinion.  In the mouth, the beer feels medium in body with a syrupy finish on the throat and a creamy carbonation that does nothing to mellow the bitter bite of the beer.  The mouth is left dry and sticky, screaming for another sip.  Overall, this is a drink that bites back.  It’s not the hoppiest thing in all creation, but it has some beautiful west coast, American hoppy bitters.  If you like pine in your beer then you will love this beer, for it is a hopheads beer for sure!  Newburyport Brewing has some damn good beers in its repertoire already, and I cannot wait to see what else the cook up.  Try this beer.  It’s even better from the can! Yeat!

4.02/5