Mistress Jade's Hemp Ale
Sherwood Brewing Company

I am trying this beer off the tapper at The brewery as part of a six sample flight. It poured a clear copper with white head that is leaving some lace. The scent had hemp and floral earthen notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with crisp hop, earth, peat and hemp presence. The mouthfeel was lighter in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a great beer.

This is by far the better version of a hemp ale, they bring brightness and clarity to the hops used in the background. This one has a lemon under tone to it. This is a clean tasting hemp ale that keeps the hop and citrus notes present. This overall is a very unique beer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This brew was served from the tap at Sherwood Brewing Company in Shelby Township, Michigan. It arrived in a generic pint glass, showing a brassy golden coloring. It held a one finger head of marshmallow foam, showing okay retention. Thick sheets of lacing were left around the glass, as was a thin film across the top of the liquid. No haze or sediment was noted, and carbonation appeared to be light. The aroma gave light citric hops, sugary sweet maraschino cherries, pale and red malts, stark metallics, and faint boozy airs. With warmth came cereal grain and raw barley, dandelion, grassy oiliness, light barnyard sweetness, chemical phenols, buttery toast, and apricot fruitiness. Our first impression was that there was nice fruity sweetness to meet the grittiness of the malts throughout the flavoring. As we sipped, the taste began with honey sweetness, mossy grassiness, lightly citric and floral hops, lemon rind, metallic bite, gravel, corny adjuncts, and toasted pumpkin seed. Moving to the peak were notes of red cherry sweetness with bitterness of the stem and core of it all, resiny green hops, amber and coppery malts, vanilla extract harshness, and light booziness. The end came with bittered metallic ambers and pales, faint buttery diacetyls, big cereal grain dryness, dried straw, parchment paper, lemon flesh bite, toasted sesame seed, and resiny green grape. The aftertaste breathed of bubblegum sweetness, coppery metallics, dust and must, heavier amber malt bite, caramel malt sweetness, chalky yeast, light lactic acidity, and dried hop leaf of the earthen varietal. The body was medium, and the carbonation was high. Each sip gave okay slurp, smack, cream, and froth, with the fine finishing pop giving pleasant creaminess to the lips by the end. The mouth was left cooled and wet, with no real coating. It is left with a metallic sheen and pucker. The abv was appropriate, and drinkability was easy.

Overall, what we liked best about this beer was its crisp flavoring and ease of drinkability. The malts showed light buttery warmth and good depth to the ambers and reds of the base, helping to mix everything together with the toasted plant qualities of the hemp and the dried, grassy hop inclusions. Comparatively, the nose was rather basic, leaving quite a bit to be desired. As always, it is fun to try something unique and local, and while this was fresh and interesting, we can see how some might get bored after one glass, and want to reach for something with a little more pizazz.