Enigma Dry Hopped Kettle Sour
Surly Brewing Co.

 

Clear, bright golden, slim head, soon-gone.

In the nose: Lightly hoppy, lightly soured, lightly peachy. There's something here. It's nice enough, for now.

In the mouth: Tart at first, then fruity. Getting the hops, and more of the fruit. Lean bodied, light, very drinkable, not too sour.

Do they have peaches in Iceland? Does it matter? Everyone loves peaches. And most people also like Herb. Reunited, and it feels so good.

Mild tartness, mild fruit, mild everything. There ain't nothing wrong with it. But we expect a bit more, especially from Surly. This stays far from the edge.

 

 

 

Pours chunky, gold. Short, foamy white head that's short lived.

Smells fruity, light tart, bready and light citrus.

Tastes light lemon, bready, citrus peel, light peach, grain hints and yeast hints. Finish is semi dry with bready linger. Medium body and fizzy medium carbonation.

Interesting. Get the sour, get the hops and get the peaches, but the blending doesn't go that well. Each distinctively is okay to better than that, but together, it's striking in it's conflict. Pours a very clear yellow gold until the bottom enters and the it's cloudy with lots of particles floating around. White head stays for a little bit, but before long it's popping away to near nothing.
The blending goes better in the drink but it is still conflicting more than complementing in the contrast. Hoppy flavor and hoppy bitter finish seems off in the finish. The sour, with some fruit but not strongly peach, filters in and out of take and leaves some residual flavors on the moderately long finish. Peach is there but it also comes across as generic light fruit. Seems to have some hop excess as well to the point of skunky (not light struck).
Moderately thin body. Carbonated moderately.
This is the making of something interesting, but not all experiments succeed. But it's all about the adventure and I'm will to take a dive with this brewery on occassion.

 

Poured from 750ml bottle into glass. No dating information found on bottle or label.
Cloudy, orange straw colored body. Minimal fizzy head quickly disappears, with a interrupted ring fed by rising bubbles. No lacing.
Aroma of wheat kernels and peach skin. Very faint lemon lime.
Taste is peach skin (not at all sweet), with tart lemon and wheat. A little sour but no funk.
Mouth feel is thin, with fizziness on the tongue.
Overall, the beer is thin and weak in all areas. It is more like a Berliner Weiss than a wild ale. Would be refreshing in the summer. Is lacking to make good use of the peach addition.

750ml bottle, served in a snifter glass. Pours a cloudy golden orange body, one finger white head, fair retention and no lacing. Smell is wheat germ, mineral, light peach skin, a bit of citrus and resin. Nothing too special. Light lemony tartness. Flavour is pretty bland; wheat, mineral, touch of peach fuzz, light resin, lemon tartness is mild. Body is light, a bit watery. Mineral- kinda bready, pilsnery in some ways- flavours dominate on the finish with a light lemon tartness. Nothing too special, would have been better in a 12oz format. Fairly average kettle sour, essentially a berliner weisse.

Pours a hazy gold-yellow in to a snifter - about a finger of head.

This is one of the strangest beers I've had in the last couple of years - the dry-hopping makes this feel like a soft, slightly dry, lightly fruited, mildly sour IPA. It's strange. This beer has quite the identity crisis going on.

I'm not a fan of the format - I only wanted to drink about 6 oz of this stuff, so the rest of the bomber went down the drain. What a waste. This is a tremendously disappointing beer.