Beyond
Barley's Brewing Company

Beyond is a blend of Barley’s Infinity Belgian Grand Cru and Blurry Bike IPA. It was recently released in honor of Neil Armstrong.

Beyond pours a darker, almost plum looking color. It’s mostly clear. Backlighting brings out some copper and crimson highlights. It’s topped with an off-white surface covering of bubbles. It never rises above that. Retention was on the shorter side. Lacing was also rather light and spotty. Not bad.

The nose is good. It features a nice fruity scent. There’s a mix of apple, cherry, and light dark fruit scents. Belgian yeast is noted and smells a tad spicy, but it’s much more fruity and malty than anything. Some hoppy notes are present. The IPA side introduces a blend of citric and piney notes. The citric variety is a little stronger and features grapefruit and orange scents. Overall, it seems a little more Belgian than American IPA. Smells good though.

The flavor is definitely good. It definitely falls more on the Belgian side, rather than American IPA. It has a nice Belgian yeast presence. Fruit notes of light apple, cherry, and plum are flavorful and linger throughout. There’s a light spicy flavor, but it’s very subtle. It does have a hop presence, and it works surprisingly well with malt base and Belgian yeast. The hops taste mostly like grapefruit and orange, but light pine and grass are also present. It has a very mild bitter bite. Alcohol is noted, but doesn’t come through that strong. I wouldn’t guess it’s roughly 8.5%. Finishes fruity, malty, and a tad dry.

Beyond has a medium body. Carbonation is very light and soft. It’s definitely smooth. I won’t finish the growler off tonight, but it’s going down nicely.

I don’t know if this is Barley’s first experiment with combining beers, but it turned out well. I guess I wouldn’t have minded if the IPA side of it were a little more pronounced, but it is what is…and it’s pretty darn good. Neal Armstrong, we raise our glasses to you! To infinity and beyond!