Mid-2021 beers

Excellent saison, no review

Drank, not reviewed

The flavors have been fewer, or least I have written up fewer beers this summer. Sometimes the mood won't catch, sometimes the brews get written up in the course of travel or brewery visit blogs. So here are a few cans, bottles and crowlers to grace my home the last few months.

Paradox No. 44: Mangozacca 2016
April 15, 2021
On a rainy April evening I could wait no longer. This five-year-old pours cloudy and with a head that rises as quickly as it falls, leaving some residue on the glass that resembles citrus pulp (country-style sour, anyone?). There’s an orange-mango firmness to the nose, some sour notes clinging to the edges. The flavor profile is quite intense. Mangozacca presents a heart of lemon and still shows evidence of the double-dry-hopped hops from many years ago. It’s diminished of course – dry-hopping just doesn’t last this long. Like many of Paradox’s barrel-aged brews, Mangozacca doesn’t taste like anything else. Time has pressed the sour golden ale under layers of fruit and hops. Another complex triumph from the brewers in Divide. This one could almost be served alongside mimosas and bellinis at brunch, and no one would complain.

Metric Mr. Pink
April 18, 2021
This raspberry cream ale does not overdue the fruit or the corn used to create this lawnmower beer style. It’s light and creamy, a delight a day that returns spring to the Pikes Peak region.

The Blaugies/Hill Farmstead Vermontoise
May 8, 2021
A reason to celebrate and a saison I’ve never tasted make a perfect pairing. Plus, it’s the rare chance to taste something from Vermont’s Hill Farmstead Brewing, whose brews often only come from long waits at the brewery. Oh my, Vermontoise is dry, with cracker-like malt notes and some sharp herbal notes from the hops. A lemongrass sizzle emerges, as well as elements of lemon pepper and coriander, although they are deep in the mix. There’s an appealing, funky strain that one often finds in Old World saisons, where they originated as quenching beers made from whatever harvested ingredients were available. 

The brew uses unusual ingredients such as spelt, a relict wheat that has been farmed in Europe since civilization began. The spelt gives off some different earthy notes than traditional types of wheat, and that combined with the Amarillo hops boosts the citrus character in pleasant directions. Not an everyday sipper, but Vermontoise combines the best of Old World and New World saisons. 

Happy Basset Purebread Porter
May 9, 2021
I put a vacation week to rest with a crowler from this Topeka brewery, where I had an excellent stop. This porter erupts with a creamy lace and a ton of roasted malt character, with notes from dark chocolate to chicory to assorted nuts and dried fruits like dates (the latter has very minor influence). Purebread also achieves the lighter body that should differentiate porter from stout. Not that it is by any means a light beer. The inky brilliance crosses the dark beer-session beer divide. 

Wiley Roots Peach Wheat
May 16, 2021
The label says peach puree, and from the first sniff there’s no question it came from Palisade peaches. It never tastes like extract or has that children’s vitamin feel that I hate in some fruited wheat. Here. I just get plenty of freshly sliced peaches that mesh well with the wheat malt backbone.

Russian River Propitation (Porter aged in Petit Sirah barrels)
June 2, 2021
The beer shelves seldom deliver such as delight as a new Russian River sour. This porter spends 12-15 months in a Petit Sirah barrel, and the nose immediately reveals characters of souring bacteria and the wine barrel. There are few sour porters, but the porter base allows the other influences greater strength. 

Few beers possess such wine barrel character – Petit Sirah is a dark, inky grape, so it comes as little surprise that the barrel would have heavy influence on a beer. Underneath the wine character lies some assertion of the roast malt, with notes of dark chocolate and fried fruit before finishing sour. Some flavors might be strong but none appear overpowering, and the sour character does not run wild. The blend of red wine, porter and souring bacteria makes for an interesting beer and a solid gateway for anyone reticent about sour porter/stouts.

From Beyond (Barrel- aged farmhouse ale, Oxbow Brewing/Holy Mountain Brewing)
June 6, 2021
I almost wish beers like this wouldn’t get a farmhouse label – this seems like a straight-up sour beer to me, with aging in Pinot Noir and Cognac barrels. There is influence of those barrels, with the pinot noir being more prominent, but this brew is dry and incredibly. sour. The pucker is strong in this one. Too strong at times. While I like this beer, I’m probably not touching anything sour for some time.

Metric Tre Sec Dry-hopped saison
June 6, 2021
Now this is more my speed. Metric has a saison recipe that has an ample supple of Loral and Nelson Sauvin hops, create a nice herbal crunch on top of the coriander and mix of malts that run in saisons I generally enjoy. Saison might not be lawnmower beer, but Metric hits all the marks here – medium-bodied blonde beer with spices and herbs. Nelson Sauvin adds a nice herbal crunch to most beers, and Tre Sec is no exception.

Flyover (NE)braska Pale Ale
June 20, 2021
After finally having lunch and tasting the wares of Flyover Brewing Company in Scottsbluff, Neb., I came home with a little stockipile. From their regular rotation, I picked this one, not my usual style but it their brewmaster has an interest in experimental IPAs, so it seemed worth a try. There’s some real bright notes of apricot and tangerine that establish the citrus foundation. While they call it hazy (hence the spelling of Nebraska) there’s a nice, crunchy hop bitterness that steers this PA away from the common neutered NEIPAs that have flooded the craft beer world. There’s a good herbal bitterness that lingers on the palate. I expect this will be a six-pack that goes slowly, since I want to savor a well-made pale ale from the Nebraska Pandhandle’s only brewery.

Lost Relic Imperial ESB
June 24, 2021
I saw a picture of this beer on the internet, and drove to Local Relic to see if they still had any. I nabbed one of the last bottles, just 34 produced. This brewery in a former church only does small-batch beers, and it shows. Imperial ESB might be barleywine by another name, but this one pours dark, way darker than most copper-colored barleywines. After an initial uptick of chocolate and toffee maltiness, the dry hops break in, then run until the finish. Local Relic maintains the ESB feel – no flavor dominates, evenly matching the hops and malt even at this strength (10.6 percent ABV). For a dark beer at this strength, it has no business being this drinkable, and that’s a salute to Local Relic and its small-batch production.

Russian River Apical Dominance
July 8, 2021
Another new IPA from Russian River – delightfully, it isn’t hazy or NE IPA, just a good old-fashion sticky West Coast IPA. Hopped with Citra, Comet, Crystal and Talus hops, it isn’t as sharp as Blind Pig or Pliny, but that is a good change of flavor profile. The beer should taste different. This IPA runs sticky but also bone-dry, with a biscuity malt backbone. Apical Dominance has a balance of hops, and does not lay waste to the palate. This isn’t a beer like Pliny that has defined West Coast IPA, but it’s definitely worth a bottle or ten.

Crooked Stave 10th Anniversary Dark Lager
Sampled: July 21, 2021
What crazy sour concoction will Crooked Stave, a famed purveyor of sour and wild ales, release on its 10th anniversary? Nothing less than a Vienna-style lager. Color me enticed. It pours dark and the chocolate malt is immediately apparent. At first it seemed much like a dunkelweiss, but lacjing the yeast and wheat influence. No, this is a straight up dark lager, and its damn brilliant.

Chocolate only begins to describe the dark, nutty flavor. Also I have to admire an anniversary beer that does not aim for extremism or some rare style that only interests the hardcore fans. 

This dark lager, amped up in flavor,demolishes my hometown Vienna-style lager, Great Lakes’ Elliot Ness. Granted, no one would call this sweet in any way.Traditonal Vienna lager might show some sweetness, but this leans mildly bitter. It’s craft beer trying its hand at an unfamiliar style. But I want to run out for more immediately. That is a rare beer skill.

Short’s Psychedelic Cat Grass Triple-hopped American IPA
Aug. 1, 2021
It’s a spring seasonal, that much hopping this 7.6 percent IPA rolling into summer. It’s a spring seasonal, that much hopping this 7.6 percent IPA rolling into summer. Lots of nice tropical and citrus fruit notes – mango, some tangerine and grapefruit. Big fist of hop dryness and piney notes emerges from the haze late on the palate. I like it. On a humid day, it brings in the best of both the hazy and the good old West Coast IPA. Plus, it has cats on the label. Not enough beers do.