Black Beer'd
Greenbush Brewing Company

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Greenbush Brewing Company
 
Michigan, United States
Style:
Black IPA
ABV:
7.2%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
4.37 | pDev: 2.29%
Reviews:
1
Ratings:
3
Status:
Active
Rated:
May 18, 2014
Added:
May 08, 2013
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
 
Rated: 4.5 by danoble1 from Indiana

May 18, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by Gatch from Massachusetts

May 16, 2013
Photo of mynie
Reviewed by mynie from Maryland

4.36/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
(Here’s some deets, since this isn’t yet on BA or Ratebeer: 7.2% ABV, an American black ale that they somehow made sour. They were very busy and the bartender was pretty curt when I asked what they did to sour it up, so I’ll assume it’s rotten fruit. Those are all the details).

I once described Surly as the Pistol Pete Maravich of brewing. You think they’re doing something boring, that nothing could make such and such a style exciting, and then, bam, they go and dribble the ball through the defender’s legs.

This was back in 07 or so, before the rise of buzzy gimmick breweries. Which—I’m not using “buzzy gimmick breweries” in a pejorative sense. I just mean, in this day of pouring lactobacillus into brett and then straining it through peach pulp and aging it in Franzia barrels, it’s kinda quaint that I thought Bender was some kind of extreme show of creativity.
Enter Greenbush, currently Michigan’s hypiest brewery. Last year—seriously—they made a Malt liquor that used crunched up Frosted Flakes as the adjunct malt. (It tasted like a blend of Mickey’s and Palmolive).

By comparison, a sour Black ale isn’t all that weird. Just different. And, similar to how impressed I was by Bender’s blend of nuttiness and crisp west coast hops, I’m amazed that no one has ever attempted to liven up a bland ol’ schwarzbier by making the back end a little tart. Because that’s all this beer does. If anything, it’s understated: burnt barley, little sweet nodes of chocolate faded into light, dry hops and then ending with a tart kick that gives way to a bittersour aftertaste.

There’s a fine line between gimmick and innovation, I guess, and it looks like Greenbush is crossing over into the promised land.

(Full review, with picture: http://mynie.com/?p=417)
May 08, 2013
Black Beer'd from Greenbush Brewing Company
Beer rating: 4.37 out of 5 with 3 ratings