Sixth Circle
Devils Backbone Brewing Company

 

 

 

Pours golden to golden orange with light haze, tons of carbonation, and a 1 1/2 finger white head that recedes very quickly, leaving little lacing.

An aroma of sweet malts bordering on caramel, with tart citrus and a follow through of funk.

Way dry and way tart in taste. Citrus and light citrus peel. Lemon lime.

Rather light bodied but very crisp and astringent, leaving a dry feel to the mouth.

A decent summer brew, though I really prefer sweeter beers, and a stronger hop presence.

A - clear golden, effervescent body; small head, long lasting; decent lacing
S - different, but interesting; maybe dried tropical fruits mixed with lemon drop candy
T - good sour hit right up front; malty sweetness with just enough hops to balance it; interesting
F - Thin, but wanting to be a little bit heavier, due to the malts; light enough to be refreshing
O - I liked it pretty good; I'd look for it again; but probably couldn't drink too many at once

Pours a clear gold color. 1/4 inch head of a white color. Slight retention and poor lacing. Smells of a hint of salt, bacterial funk, slight sweet malt, and citrus hops. Fits the style of an American IPA. Mouth feel is sharp and crisp, with an average carbonation level and noticeable tartness. Tastes of a hint of pale malt, slight earthiness, slight citrus, slight sweet malt, bacterial funk, and a hint of piney hops. Overall, weak appearance, aroma and body are lacking, and blend is mostly tartness.

Poured from the bottle into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Boned March 7th 2017.

Fairly clear body, a bronze beaming amber color, hints of orange and copper like red, with really nice fine carbonation. Head creation is faint at about a finger, but manages a creamy thin good sized puck at least.

Very unique and inviting aroma. An excellent sense of tropical hop and funky fruit basket like quality. Sharp zesty citrus and tangy sour lemon mix well on the nose. A real big mango and tropical sweetness that rolls over real nicely. This is quite a good yeast ester and hop aroma pairing going on here, really spectacular even at this late in the game.

Palate manages to stick to basic. Session light feel, but with a supportive malt backbone, faint touch of just a little caramel like sweetness, more so evident on the finish. Tangy tart fruit juicy palate, with a real smorgasborg basket of tropical juicy melon, mango, papaya, all sorts of great stuff in there. Pleasant perfume like hop aromas on the swallow, floral and tropical hints just pass like a breath of fresh air.

This is a real unique brew, and is very much a style breaker. Really could be on to something here.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from a 12 oz brown bottle. Bottled on date is smudged but shows 04.0smudge.17.

A: Slightly hazy golden yellow with soft 1-finger white foamy head with average retention and minimal lacing.

S: Heavy citrus with a more lemon drop sour note

T: Slightly sour up front but more of an lemon citrus that fades quickly and leaves a little bit of pale malt cracker.

M: Crisp and very clean with light body and high carbonation.

O: Nondescript beer overall -- needs a little more of everything.

 

 

 

 

Second bottle from the collaboration variety pack; bottling date is lightly smudged but seems to say March 7th, 2017.

The beer is a nice shiny golden color, mostly clear with just a slight bit of haziness. There are TONS of little bubbles constantly rising from the bottom of the glass. Thin layer of white foam on top, which sticks around for a little while afterward, only shrinking a little in the first minute or so.

The smell is primarily a gose-like sour sort of thing, with a few whiffs of herbal-ish hops and a bit of a honey-like sweetness occasionally popping up somewhere in the back. Sour aspects are definitely the most noticeable. Hops are definitely not at "IPA levels," or even standard pale-ale levels... but otherwise pretty good.

Taste starts off similarly -- lemony-sour is the first thing to make itself known, and there's also a surprisingly noticeable honey-like thing that comes in on the end. On the second sip I'm noticing more of an herbal and almost flowery-seeming hoppiness in there, too. Just a hint of bitterness in there, mostly at the very start of a sip -- there's much more sour than bitter, which isn't surprising considering it's only 19 IBU. Hardly any lingering aftertaste, just a faint hint of sourness and sweetish malt. Interestingly, my burps are coming up almost celery-like -- sort of reminiscent of celery salt or celery seed. Not sure why that is. I like it, but I definitely would not call it an IPA, it's more "sour beer with some hops for a bit of extra flavor."

The feel is light, crisp, very drinkable while not seeming watery or too thin. Despite the strength of that honey-like flavor in the first few sips, this is a very dry beer overall.

Overall, a very interesting beer -- haven't ever had anything quite like it before. I don't think it impressed me quite as much this time as it did the first time around, but was definitely still enjoyable. It could use a bit more flavor from the hops, especially if it's going to be labeled as a "sour IPA," but the sour aspects and that interesting honey-like flavor that pops in near the end are really nice.