Blood Simple
Beau's All Natural Brewing Company

 

 

ah it’s summer and time for Beau’s unique summer entries. Was this one... bloody good? Well, let’s see....batch 7127 poured into a pilsner glass. Pours Tequila Sunrise orange with good collar but needs more starch to hold it up for the whole drink. be mindful of sediment near end as it pours like clay which is offputting. Nose was surprising here ss dominant smell is oats and not much fruit as I was expecting. Tastes wheaty as well, as a wheat beer does. I tasted the orange late in sip versus beginning. I would have preferred more fruit and less oat in this one. Preferred it over Their blue beer which is also part of their summer lineup. fun, but like a lot of their one offs I couldn’t drink gallons of it.

Creamy orange coloured beer with a persistent head, some lace. Slightly sharp on the nose, wheat and orange. Noticeable bitter fruit when drinking, some wheat. Surprisingly dry with a touch of metal. Lingering pithy finish. Not sure this one quite works.

 

600 ml bottle, and bottled less than 10 days ago April 25, 2018. Looking forward to a wit this fresh. $7.95 CDN at the LCBO.

Appearance - Rich and hazy golden/ orange colored beer. Two fingers of frothy white head, excellent retention and lots of lacing as the head gradually recedes. Plenty of visible carbonation at the edges of the glass. A handsome beer for sure.

Smell - Coriander, hints of orange, earthy, leafy hops and a faint sweetness this much be the chocolate.

Taste - Pretty much the same as the nose, coriander, orange, wheat, faint sweetness interspersed, although actually a little more bitter than expected which was a pleasant surprise factoring in the chocolate addition. Blood orange in there too, but melds nicely with other flavors.

Mouthfeel - Pretty smooth, on the high side of carbonation but works. Drying finish here is nice.

Overall - Blood Simple exceeded my middling expectations as it was quite enjoyable, looked great and smelled and tasted almost as good as it looked. The chocolate may have been unnecessary, but I really didn't pick up much in the way of chocolate either aromatically or with my taste buds. An earthy wit through and through with a little extra sweetness at the very, very end. Would buy again if it weren't for the steep price tag.

 

650ml bottle poured into tulip.

Pours a hazy golden yellow with one finger of fluffy white head that leaves crashing ocean breaker lace as it recedes.

Smells of sliced orange, unsalted cracker, cocoa powder strangeness, peppery yeast and wet grass.

Tastes of more zippy citrus, crisp wheat malt, white pepper, grassy hops and faint chocolatey sweetness.

Feels light and soft. Light bodied with creamy carbonation. Finishes off dry with more of that wierd cocoa.

Verdict: Recommended. Maybe cocoa nibs weren't the smartest thing to toss into the kettle, but this one is pleasant enough.

A: Hazy and straw-coloured.
S: Wheat, a little spice. Pleasant, but I'm not picking up the blood orange.
T: A nice wit with a hint of blood orange. Would probably be better without the cacoa, but it's not off-putting.
F: Juicy and refreshing.

600ml bottle - made with cacao nibs and blood orange juice, which sounds like something out of a Hallowe'en party script.

This beer pours a rather hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, finely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves some thick coral reef lace around the glass as it evenly sinks out of sight. Lots of swirling effervescence, to boot.

It smells of robust orange flesh and rind, dollar-store chocolate, a muddled wheaten graininess, mild coriander/white pepper spice, and some tame herbal and leafy green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy pale and wheat malt, a prominent exotic citrus fruitiness, some lessened semi-sweet cocoa powder notes, still hard to differentiate earthy spices, and more well understated leafy, weedy, and herbal verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its merely supportive frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and generally smooth, with a nice airy creaminess arising as things warm up a tad around here. It finishes well off-dry, the juicy orange and fading cocoa nib sweetness still overshadowing what might actually be a real-boy witbier.

Overall, I have no freaking idea what prompted this already admittedly kooky brewing concern to add chocolate to something as fragile as this style. Sure, it doesn't really provide any off-flavours, but it goes a long way in muting every god damn thing else. Yawn.