Sound Parade by Fieldwork Brewing Company (Berkeley, CA) - Hazy IPA
Quite citrus forward with lots of grapefruit and some tropical flavors of mango and peach more in the background. Followed by very slightly dank and more grassy/floral notes and a dry, low-to-medium bitter finish. Overall a quite “classical” NEIPA with a very soft mouthfeel
Infinite Stakes by Fieldwork Brewing Company (Berkeley, CA) - Hazy IPA
Quite fruit forward NEIPA with tons of mango, peach and orange flavors with some piney notes in the second half of the sip and a dry, low bitterness finish. Good hazy IPA which gets a bit close of being too sweet and missing some bitterness or dank to balance everything
Cabin Fever by The Drowned Land Brewery (Warwick, NY) - American Barleywine
Wonderful complex sipping barley wine with roasted malt as the backbone, dried fig, caramel, toffee but also hints of refreshing citrus/orange and some slight floral hints. Very dry but hardly any bitterness in the finish just a lingering of the complex flavors.
Mai Tai Gold Label by Alvarado Street Brewery (Monterey, CA) - IPA
Mai Tai is one of the flagship WCIPA from Alvarado and this gold label is their attempt to improve it. Mai Tai stands out by its character and edges whereas the gold version is losing some of it and it gets more leveled out and becomes a more “ regular” WCIPA. Still good with notes of grapefruit, lime and blueberries, followed by piney and dank flavors and a dry, medium bitter finish but it feels like many others. In German we, of course, have a word for it “verschlimmbessern” - to make something worse by trying to improve it.
I Love It When A Van Comes Together by Great Notion Brewing (Portland, OR) and Vice Beer (Vancouver, WA) - Hazy IPA
Very citrus forward hazy IPA with tons of grapefruit, lime, lemon and orange flavors before resinous, piney tastes come through with grassy notes. Additional malt and slightly sulfurous flavors also are notable. Very dry and medium bitter finish which is quite long lasting. Unusual mouthfeel with a relatively high carbonation.
Little Man Salted Oreo Stout by WeldWerks Brewing Company (Greeley, CO) - Pastry Stout
Roasted malts, chocolate, lactose, marshmallows and salt bring a flavor not unlike liquid oreos but before it gets too much into sweet area a healthy dose of long lingering bitterness in the finish really brings it back. Very well balanced pastry stout.
Puff the Magic Hydra by Mortalis Brewing Company (Avon, NY) and Tripping Animals Brewing Company (Doral, FL) - Smoothie Sour
Another fantastic smoothie sour from Mortalis out of their Hydra “series” - tons of black- and raspberry flavors but not overly sweet instead the natural tartness of the fruits nicely wirk together with the tartness of the sour. The marshmallow and especially the coconut add an unexpected flavor in the end which really brings the sour together.
Wizard Hand of Evil by Cellarmaker Brewing Company (Oakland, CA) - IPA
Good example of a NEIPA which doesn’t cover too much the overly sweet profile but still has plenty of juiciness. Good flavors of pineapple and orange give way to some notes of grassy flavors (which are never too much present). Relatively strong malt backbone and a dry, low-to-medium bitter finish.
Roach Clip by Great Notion Brewing (Portland, OR) - NEIPA
Very fruit-forward NEIPA with tons of ripe peach, orange, honeydew and relatively high sweetness. There is some resinous dank in the second half of the sip but quite moderate. The sweetness from the start reappears towards the finish which has low-to-medium bitterness. Interesting hazy IPA which is close to the tipping point of overly sweet (but still it is hard to stop drinking it)
Gretel by Foundation Brewing Company (Portland, ME) - Maerzen
The bready biscuit smell transfers to the taste which also involves some slight caramel sweetness. Some additional grassy, earthy flavors lead to a very dry and quite bitter finish. Overall a robust Oktoberfest Maerzen with less sweetness and more bitterness and higher carbonation than most others
That sounds amazing!
Pavia by Fair Isle Brewing (Seattle, WA) - Saison
Quite complex saison which initially starts with peach and grape flavors but quite fast adds this typical goaty taste of many saison with plenty of funk but also some lighter notes of vanilla from the oak. The second half of the sip gets some stronger tartness and a very dry, quite bitter finish with some citrus notes.
Palm, soybean, and/or canola oil in beer just sounds wrong.
It’s based (and in collaboration with) on a salted oreo ice cream from a famous ice cream shop in Colorado. Ice creams are quite common in stouts and sours
Bits of cookie with fat-and-sugar filling make sense to me in ice cream, but not in beer. Maybe the fat gets skimmed off or emulsified somehow.
Additions with fat content are often used in different types of beers - often added in the secondary fermentation you can use different techniques, e.g. becoming part of the trub to be removed etc. There are literally, thousands of beers with fatty components used in the brewing process and none of them contains any of them in the end product - standard technique
3-Way IPA (2025) by Fort George Brewery (Astoria, OR), Sunriver Brewing Company (Sunriver, OR), Mirage (Seattle, WA) - Hazy IPA
Very well done collaboration NEIPA with well balanced flavor profile - citrus (tangerine) and tropical (honeydew, peach, mango) flavors dominate before some grassy notes add to the flavor. Dry, low-to-medium bitter finish. Very smooth mouthfeel and highly drinkable
Gemini (Strawberry, Kiwi, Starburst) by Mortalis Brewing Company (Avon, NY) - Smoothie Sour
The Gemini series is a kind of playground for sours at Mortalis where they try out small batches of unusual combination. This one worked quite well with strawberry and kiwi having some sweetness but also inherited tartness whereas the starburst gives an interesting background flavor. Everything is balanced by the tartness of the sour even though the sourness could have been a bit higher.
I think Mortalis makes the best smoothie sour in the game. Had to cut back bc these would make my tummy hurt but they do a great job balancing the sweetness and tart.
