Lightning beer reviews - June 2017

There’s too much beer anymore. Even in Tennessee, breweries open faster than I can care.
No one who respects their liver could keep pace. So while I’ll continue to write longer beer posts, these reviews will skip to the point.

Great Lakes Grandes Lagos (Cleveland, Ohio) 
Don’t let the mouthful of a description - Mexican-style lager brewed with hibiscus flowers – dissuade you. I expected Dos Equis, but Grandes Lagos pours like rose. Were Great Lakes sold in Tennessee, this would be my feel-good beer of the summer. Pink, light and heavy in floral character, Grandes Lagos experiments and doesn’t scrimp on the hibiscus flowers. Nothing sweet about this one, just a crisp tart finish more akin to rose than anything brewed south of the border.

Alpine Pure Hoppiness (Alpine, Calif.)
A hoppy, bold but easy concoction from SoCal’s premier mountain taproom. Glad I got to visit them in 2017.


Homestead Motueka single-hop pale ale (Health, Ohio) 
What a revelation from Heath, Ohio, a small town east of Columbus. I had never tasted this New Zealand hop before, and it’s impressively different from more prominent hops. On the front end, it delivers plenty of citrus oil character. Body has a pithy orange flavor and any number of curious herbal, grassy notes. The finish sports some licorice and fennel notes. This one alone puts Health, Licking County and Homestead on the map.

Great Lakes Hop Madness (Cleveland, Ohio)
Disappointing after the successes of Lake Erie Monster and Chillwave Double IPA. It’s decent but the hops never spring out. It’s bitter, hoppy but the flavors never mesh.

Seventh Son Proliferous (Columbus, Ohio)
This is as light and juice as DIPAs get … bravo, Seventh Son. It’s drinkable, deceptively drinkable and the flavor runneth over.

Jackie O’s Lanthrone (Athens, Ohio)
Imperial amber ale – that’s not a typical pour. I rarely seek out amber or brown ales anymore, but the year spent in bourbon barrels makes this strong ale more representative of bourbon. Dark malts shine through, with notes of raisins and dates running deep. The barrel imparts loads of lots of vanilla, lots of barrel influence and it’s a great one-off like their Paw Paw Wheat.

Short’s Anni Ale 13 (Bellaire, Mich.)
Dry-hopped sour with black currants The dry-hopping has faded a little but there is still some hop presence. As a black currant sour, it’s brilliant on its own.

Sweetwater Cool Breeze Cucumber Saison (Atlanta, Ga.) 
Add cucumber to a beer, and the vegetable will overtake any other flavor. I’m not sure Belgian-style saison and cucumber were the best mix. The assertiveness of the Belgian yeast esters and the coriander doesn’t always line up with the bold cucumber. Not bad, but it’s almost impossible to drink more than one in a row.


Seventh Son Goo Goo Muck Tart IPA (Columbus, Ohio)
What’s tart IPA? Kettle-soured IPA with Citra, Simcoe and Palisades hops, GGM is loaded with musty tones that collide with mango-led passion fruit from the hops and plenty of assertive citrus. Tart is no understatement. This IPA is the closest beer to New Belgium’s Le Terroir I’ve tasted, even if Seventh Son cheats with a kettle souring (sorry, it isn’t the same, never will be).

Kentucky Peach Barrel Wheat (Lexington, Ky.) 
 Another summer winner. Despite paying $14 for a 4-pack, this ale earns its keep. Bright peach notes are tempered by vanilla and oak from the barrel. Bigger than most peach beers but well worth the time. Do note the 8 percent ABV – it is easy drinking but quite deceptive.