Tachyon
Element Brewing Company

I have to respect the attempt at something unique here but what it is and what they say it is are 2 different things. This is in no way an IPA. It isn't a Sake. It's not a Sake IPA. Given the extreme prevalence of olive juice in the taste profile, I think they'd have done way better marketing it as a 'Martini IPA'. It has the dryness of gin and the briny olive note ... add a little bit of pine/resin similar to a west coast IPA and you'd have at least a better gimmick.

This reminds me of a spoiled version of Allagash's wonderful crisp house beer, which is available only at the brewery. The smell is slightly floral and slightly antiseptic in nature. A session beer with a squirt of Bactine. It looks like a glass of urine ... there's no two ways about it. I put it through my Fizzics and got very little of the creamy meringue head people talked about. It has the carbonation of a soda with little carbonation bubbles throughout. The small head on mine dissipated quickly.

The taste is olive juice, starchy rice water and a bit of dish soap. As bad as that sounds, it's not a terrible beer to drink. Just weird and unremarkable ... and very non-IPA-ish.

Overall, I'd never buy this again. Nor would most people. If it was marketed differently, maybe people would but it doesn't fill any gaps I need filled. So, glad I was able to buy a single can of this.

Unusual beer. Cant find any info on the bottle or online as to how it's made...

Smell and taste of rice grain and slightly skunked pilsner malts, earthy hops.
Taste comes in waves, with a light sake flavor apparent later, somewhat woody.
Very dry feel, almost astringent. Reminiscent of a brut IPA.

Overall, a unusual and interesting brew. Not a great IPA, but not bad, a light and unique beer.

 

If the rating scale allowed it, I'd give it a zero. No beer should be this difficult to drink. Foamier and fizzier than champagne. Poured into a tall weizen glass. Even with a slow pour I got 0.25 inch of beer and 5 inches of foam. In the meantime, the newly opened bottle oozed foam onto the table. I had to scoop foam out of the glass 3 times to get the beer into a form that could be imbibed. After all this work, it would have to be on the scale of HT or Julius to make it worth the work. Alas, it was mediocre at best.

 

 

Pours a semi-hazey golden in color, topped with a meringue-like, off-white head. Could almost pass itself off as a "White I.P.A." to an imbiber who'd had too many, or maybe as a Belgian I.P.A.

On the nose there's a floral hop character which is actually rather citric, and I'm thinking lemon rind more than anything. Interesting. It's sort-of big right away on the nose, but quickly fades, yielding to a melange of neutral English ale yeast and sake character. Not a trace of alcohol on the nose, but fusel-like character, yes, and throughout the drink.

On first sip there's only a hint of light sweetness, almost like residual sweetness. It is otherwise dominated by a mostly dry, semi-tart character. As far as what makes this an I.P.A., I couldn't tell you. It's not East Coast / West Coast / British / Belgian, but sort of a big "Eh. . . ?" I mean, the hops just are not really there, man! This is not even in the ballpark of the sort of "hop water" than what one of the less-than-average Session I.P.A. manages to pull off. There's a light and effervescent carbonation which makes for an easy drinking beverage*, so it's got that goin' for it.

Beyond that, there's an aftertaste which lingers. This is an admixture of muted grains, seltzer water-like mineral character, along with a lot of spent / dead yeast. Meh.

*This one is just not very good at whatever it's trying to be.

Is it a sake/ale hybrid?
A sad attempt at a Session IPA?
A gluten free gimmick?

Who knows. Who cares. NEXT~!

Welcome to the Annual Questionable Beer Night in MN! Passed this one up several times, but the lure of a sake-aged beer overwhelmed my common sense. 500ML bottle split with my wife.

Pale enough to qualify as my legs by late February, slightly hazed. The nose is watered down sake, light grain alcohol, flattened hops. Very interesting.

Tachyon is fast, but not that fast. I can definitely taste the sake. There’s a dry, white wine bite to the beer that I’m going to attribute to the sake, & it’s inbred nicely with a quiet hop bitterness. Those two traits dominate, but there’s a bit of green apple peel, onion, boiled white rice. Nice aftertaste of what I imagine to be fermenting rice. Bone dry. It’s taken me a while to even get through 250ML, but I am enjoying it.

Big swing & a miss: I was trying to clear the fridge of potential pathogens, & instead, end up with a good, unique, tasty beer. Love the experimentation & that the result isn’t ass-water makes it even better.

L - pours a pale straw bud light. Mix in some yeast from the bottom and you get what my sister calls "dehydrated piss". Mmm.

S - faintly floral with a ricey malt tang. Cereal.

T - Kalamata olives. Light, fleeting flavor. Not much backbone, like a baby deer trying to stand up for the first time. Earthy. Rice lager intensified.Puckering dryness on the finish.

F - very fizzy. Too fizzy. Produced a monster head, so I knew this was coming. Hard to swallow because of how carbonated it is. Foams in your mouth if you create even the slightest turbulence.

O - I honestly expected more out of this. Sake IPA? Sounds interesting! But then I remembered sake = rice and I went "Ohhhhh :("

Pours clear, bright yellow in color, with 1/4 inch head. Taste is faint floral hops, and light sweet fruit. Taste is very subtle for an IPA. Interesting take on the style. I do appreciate how the brewer is going for gentle hopping. Not one I would get again due to price point, but glad I tried it.

L: Pours a very lively brilliant gold under a 3” white foam collar that dissipates to a thick, sudsy film over 3 minutes. S: Floral with some spice and earthiness but not a huge aroma. T: Crisp light grains with a fairly immense earthiness. Has an unusual and interesting flavor profile that is hard to pin down with elements of melon, fruit, citrus over an initial underlying sweetness that finishes dry. F: Crisp and light with a fizzy, effervescent texture. It does hot have the texture of a barley malt based beverage but it has enough other interesting things going on to recommend it. O: This is a gluten free beer and it is interesting enough to work. This does not have a lot of sake elements.

 

 

500 ML bottle
Served in an IPA glass

This beer pours pale yellow in color with a mountain of saison-like head that sticks to the sides of the glass.

It has a skunked smell with some iron.

The taste isn't quite as bad. It has a skunky taste, but not as overwhelming as the smell. I pick up a little citrus and bitterness.

Effervescent and light bodied

This beer is like a Heineken with champagne carbonation and some citrus and a bitter finish. If that sounds good to you then try it. Otherwise avoid it like I will going forward.