<\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nGotta say, I was expecting something a lot thicker given the “smoothie” beers I’ve seen mocked all across Instagram, and I’m not mad that this poured more or less like a regular beer. That said, if you handed this to me and told me it was some sort of tea or kombucha, based on the visuals alone I’d have a hard time arguing with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lightly tart and mildly tangy, I think the cherry\/peach mix in here really skewed the whole mixture towards the stone fruit as I wasn’t finding much of that super-sugary pineappley goodness, and the mango is really hiding in the background wearing all black doing the tech work for the fruits on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not bad. Glad I tried it. Moving on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure><\/li> <\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAustin Brothers Beer Co. Sumo Sumatra Imperial Stout<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\nFor this beer, Tavour brought me something a little closer to home, though Alpena MI is still a bit of a haul. This stout promised Sumo-sized flavors and for the most part delivered, with Sumatran coffee, cocoa nibs and vanilla bean all in this particular mosh pit of a beer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sumo-sized body was not present, though, as this was a weirdly-thin beer for something supposedly so overweight. There’s plenty of candy sweetness right up front, followed by a decent amount of dark-roast coffee-ground flavor in the middle of the flavor and then this beer finishes bone-dry, which I found quite odd though not completely off putting. Different isn’t bad, and this was just different; unexpected. Might be worth a drive to check out some more beers from these guys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moonraker Brewing Co. Citra Double: Crushable Series<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n <\/figure><\/li> <\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nA solid hazy! At this point I find there’s very few new things to say about most hazy beers — they either work or they don’t and there isn’t a ton of flavor difference between most of them. Are they juicy or not juicy? Are they hazy or not hazy? Are they pleasant, or just blah? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
File this one under “pleasant.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nice pillowy mouthfeel, bright sweet orange and pineapple citrus flavors, no finishing hop burn or grassiness. That ticks all the boxes I look for in your basic imperial hazy. Don’t know anything about Moonraker and it’s unlikely I’ll be getting to California to find them, but I’m glad to have had the chance to try them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parish Brewing \/ Untitled Art Gulf Coast I<\/em>PA<\/h3>\n\n\n\n <\/figure><\/li> <\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI don’t fully know what I was expecting from this beer — would this Gulf Coast Via Wisconsin IPA be firmly plush and tropical, or would it be bitter and dank, or would it be a combination of both? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After seeing the recent news about Southern states going through a massive deep freeze, I decided that in some weird karmic way that my drinking this NOLA-ish beer would somehow help. I don’t think it did. And I don’t…know if I liked this or not? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was fine, but it was somehow a collision of flavors that came together to make an IPA with perhaps too many ideas. (“Collaborations” can be like that sometimes.) Neither fully juicy nor full-on bitter, it leaned towards the side of pine\/dank while some pops of lime zest and passionfruit punched up as much as it could, but to no avail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
DUBCO (Destination Unknown Beer Company) Dark Chocolate Orange Abuse of Stout<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nOkay, there is a LOT going on here, and I did not expect to really enjoy this. Somehow, it all worked – which astounds me since I do not like honey in pastry stouts (or most beers, really; there’s so many other ways to add sweetness). Cocoa nibs. Vanilla. Orange. Honey. All in a weirdly thin 12% ABV bombshell and hot damn if they didn’t pull it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This one drank crazy smooth, light and still managed to pack a ton of those promised flavors into every sip. Would gladly seek this out again – not all the time, but every now and then it’d be fun to pull out and marvel at. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mikkeller SD Double Blush: Imperial Berliner with Raspberry and Coffee<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nNnnnnnnnnnnnnope. This one’s a miss. It’s not like they took a coffee beer and added a little berry fruitiness to it. I could see that. This one is a big, rough, bodyslam of a sour raspberry beer that they seemingly just jammed a bunch of coffee grounds into. Big whoops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have you ever been drinking a big glass of juice – like a cranberry cocktail or a grape juice – and thought to yourself, “You know what this needs? COFFEE.” No. No one ever has. <\/p>\n\n\n\n