Bean Flicker
Odd Side Ales

3.75/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

12oz can. Canned on date of '03/07/19'.
Mostly clear, pale gold colored body. One finger of white head. Small spots of lacing left behind.
Aroma of vanilla and coffee.
Taste is a golden ale overcome by vanilla and coffee. No bitterness.
Medium mouth feel. Good carbonation.
This beer has a lot of expressed vanilla, with the coffee present, which intermingles. The blonde ale is a base but is a minor note to this beer.

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3.79/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

My seCANd entry in/of New Tying Up Loose Ends Beer Sunday (Week 759) loops us back to Week 750! M'man @Jimmy_Kneecaps was the impetus then & remains my CANspiration now. I ran through a LOT of Odd Side Ales' beers that day & since then I have scored a few more, as well as finding some in the backlog, to stay CANrent with The CANQuest (tm).

From the CAN: "Blonde Ale with Coffee"; "Satisfying stimulation of sessionable self exploration!"; "Looks can be deceiving and Bean Flicker will challenge your perception of light and dark beers! This
satisfying simulation of self-exploration is sure to surprise your pallet. [sic] It's an extremely smooth session-able blonde ale, with notes of vanilla and coffee. So light a few candles, turn down the lights, put on some light easy listening music and enjoy the adventure this beer has to offer."

Ha ha! Okay. I wondered if this name might have something/anything to do with "tickling the bean" or "Jilling off" and the previous verbiage leaves me with little to no doubt that it does. LOL!

I beCAN by Crack!ing open the vent & allowing the coffee aroma to waft out. 8=O I got really excited at the prospect of more coffee, having already drank my morning cuppa joe. My aggro C-Line Glug still di not produce much in the way of head. It was a finger of roiling, rolling, fizzing eggshell-white head that quickly reverted to wisps. 8=( Color was an oh-so-slightly-hazy Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5). Nose, when I leaned in for a real sniff, had the sweetish quality of French Vanilla coffee! Now, while I would NEVER drink a full cup of it, I like a shot or so in with a blend of other coffees when buying a to-go cup at a CANvenience store. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but not breaking any records, either. Def thin for an ale. The taste was less sweet than the nose had led me to expect, which was just fine by me. It had a light coffee bitterness to offset the perceptible sweetness of the vanilla. Finish was semi-sweet. It wasn't bad, but it just seemed to lack Ooomph! I would have preferred a greater coffee presence to really wake things up. I felt like I had kind of snoozed through this one. YMMV.

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3.64/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Pours a lightly foggy with a finger of white foam. Aroma is heavy coffee, cocoa nibs, toffee, herbal, resiny, sticky hops and nutty and earthy malts. Flavor profile is cold press coffee with a bold and expansive profile. Beyond coffee are notes of toffee, caramel and nutty and earthy malts. It has a lightly bitter bite up front. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a still but lightly soft fuzzy finish. Overall, a little all across the board. Coffee is present, but it comes off a bit harsh and out of place - like an after thought.

Served in a 15.5oz Spiegalau tulip from a 12oz bottle.

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3.87/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

From the 12 oz can in a snifter (this one is the Hoof Hearted version with the
Yirgacheffe (SP???) coffee). This interesting little brew pours a chill hazed golden
light amber color with a decent head of white foam that settles to a thin ring
with sparse lacing. Nose of subtle coffee (cold press) and subtle sweet malts...
very light nose that is almost non-existent. Flavors blossom with cold pressed
coffee and roasted malt notes with sweet honey and light touches of melon
(honeydew and sugar melon to be precise) with subtle earthy malts and
faint touches of cocoa. Perfect mouth feel for the style of which I have had
quite a few of lately---light carbonation, medium mouth feel, smooth, highly
quaff-able, and finishing a touch dry.

Overall---a unique brew from a solid little brewery

Cheers

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3.75/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

L: hazy gold under a 2" white cap with good retention.

S: smells like biscuits and coffee and the coffee aroma is borderline cloying.

T: Initial blonde ale flavors but coffee takes over from mid-palate on and suggests coffee and shortbread. There is a hint of vanilla.

F: Medium to medium light body, medium carbonation, smooth and light.

O: An interesting and refreshing beer.

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3.96/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

This beer pours a deep straw with a solid head. The aroma features honeycombe, malted milk, cream, underripe banana, and very mild coffee. The flavor is semi sweet, with lots of malted milk and a touch or honey and peanut butter, with just a touch of bitter coffee to follow. The mouthfeel is very light and slightly crisp with a dollop of sweetness. Overall a this is a nice little drinker, but it does not show much coffee - mostly it tastes like a malted milk ball. I don't hate that either, just could be a bit more accurately labelled.

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3.64/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Pours a cloudy bright yellow with a thick white head. Aroma is coffee with cream on top of a biscuit and malt ale. Flavor follows the nose, sweet coffee without any real hop bitterness. Feel is light and well carbonated. Overall an "odd" blonde ale that is both enjoyable and sessionable.

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4/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a mostly clear golden yellow color Smell is roasted coffee is a very fresh roast scent some biscuit malts. Taste follows nose nice fresh coffee here, the combination of a blonde with coffee really works here,,found it to be so less filling than a stout while still delivering a nice infused coffee flavor . well done.

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4/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This was my first stab at an Oddside Ale, this one definitely lived up to that uniqueness. This flavor profile works really well and it completes the crispness of the blonde ale and the sweetness of the coffee. This one is very well balanced but not too many would kill the experience of this brew. The sweet caramel, coffee under tones give this a very different ale taste. This adds to the crispness and keeps it interesting.

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3.93/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Interesting, refreshing, different take on the typically-stout beers that taste of coffee. Sampled on tap at Odd Side Ales. Nice golden color with some mild head and nice spotty lingering lacing. Smells faintly of malt and coffee. Tastes of medium-roast coffee, grain, malt, biscuit and some creamy vanilla. Mild smooth mouthfeel and perfect amount of carbonation. Definitely sessionable!

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3.79/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Pours pale yellow. Homie, medium white head that Fades fast.

Smells coffee, granny and light vanilla.

Taste coffee, light char, sweet grain and vanilla hints. Finish is semi-dry with a light coffee linger. Lighter body and fizzy medium carbonation.

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3.58/5  rDev -6.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Refusing to believe that you can't have to choose between robust taste and crisp texture, the brewers at Odd Side Ales take a copious amount of blonde coffee beans and spike an American Blonde Ale with them for that rich coffee character on a beer of high drinkability.

Deep gold and with a faint bronze haze, the beer hardly has any appearance of the dark secrets inside. But one whiff wakens the senses with the intense aromas of fresh brewed, lightly kilned coffee and with subtle hints of vanilla, cereal and cream underneath. Grain sweetness greets the tongue with a taste of honey, vanilla wafer and malted milk.

Grain sweetness subsides on the middle palate and the soft suggestions of vanilla and cream linger deeper in support of the fresh coffee flavors that seem of the more gentle Kona and breakfast blend varieties. Nutty, toasty and hints of caramel accompany the coffee while the lighter ale underneath fades into a lightly hopped, herbal woodsiness.

Medium light on the palate, the mind wants to read the textures a fuller because of the beer's insinuation with of bigness with flavor. But the beer's textures remain crisp and refreshing and also with a linger of coffee deep in the after palate.

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3.98/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a hazy light yellow with a frothy white head that fades fast. The smell is dominated by coffee and chocolate notes, not much else, but it is powerful on the nose. The taste follows the smell, chocolate and coffee up front, with a crisp clean finish where the flavors mellow, then stick around on the finish and aftertaste, which has a hint of bitter. The mouthfeel is light, crisp, and refreshing. Overall the beer is nice, good flavors, but could use something else to balance what it has going on. Worth checking out, but not something I will return to regularly.

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3.81/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

i have been increasingly drawn to coffee in paler beers lately, it makes a ton of sense, as dropping out all the dark grain allows the coffee to shine on its own, and while we definitely give up some cool roasty synergy with the dark malt, we gain a clearer expression of the coffee in the beer on its own, and thats pretty neat to me, a burgeoning coffee nerd. this one gets away with a pretty absurd name, but thats kind of their thing at odd side. the coffee smells more robust than it tastes, rather fresh but not totally on point there, and a really simple base beer provides a little crackery malt and faint honey sweetness in support. i like how there is nuances of vanilla and baking chocolate here, both sweet and bitter without being forced, seemingly all from the coffee. smooth in feel with a pretty decent body to it for how light the beer drinks overall and how simple the grain aspect appears to be. its super drinkable too, not too much coffee in here for multiple glasses of it, and great carbonation keeps it feeling expressive and active and thats neat with all the coffee too. overall a fun beer, to me it somehow tastes just a little cheap, like the blonde ale might not be great on its own without the coffee, but this really works. summery too to me, yum.

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1.91/5  rDev -50.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 1

It’s questionable beer night! Where we pull beers outta the fridge that just…don’t sound right. Maybe we’re wrong. Here’s our first entry, wearing a 12 oz. can.

The pour is a disconcerting pale blonde with plenty of micro-floaties. Smells like coffee with a ton of faux-milk additive & touch of chocolate.

Bean Flicker, unfortunately, is a weird as it sounds. The coffee comes out as twisted up in the malt & hops. A graininess, like eating a breakfast bar, brings a jarring mouthfeel, continuing creating an odd mishmash of texture & tastes. The aftertaste is what does it for me – I want to scrub my tongue with a Brillo pad. EEeeck. Four sips & done.

What starts out as interesting morphs into licking the fur of a rapid skunk in the aftertaste. Bad beer.

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4.68/5  rDev +21.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75

The Look of the beer was light. Never had a blonde ale with coffee and when I got it, I would've thought it was miller/bud light but besides the look was representative of a blonde.

The smell was good. It was very aromatic which was fine for me. I don't need to be able to smell the beer before I taste it. Taste matter much more to me.

The taste was awesome. It was smooth, the coffee flavor was definitely there and to fight off any coffee bitterness there was a sweetness at the end that still contained the coffee flavor.

The feel I saw was excellent. It was light and not heavy as I would expect to be with a lighter looking beer. I would've had several more if I didn't have so many different beers to try that night.

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3.89/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Pretty decent coffee taste with it. Not my favorite but was left after a party so worth a try. Definitely an easy drinker. 'Aybe a good morning boating beer.

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4.04/5  rDev +5.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

The golden yellow color and light tan head mask the coffee in this beer, but it’s not a heavy coffee - very subtle, more of an espresso aroma, with cocoa notes.

Taste has the vanilla of a blonde ale, which combine nicely with the cocoa flavors. Very nice beer.

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3.5/5  rDev -8.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Light bread notes, and some cream soda flavors. Vanilla notes and coffee pair well. Light floral hops. Moderate carbonation and easy drinking with a semi dry finish.

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3.74/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Up there with one of the best names I have seen on a label. Coffee-forward blonde ale. Really pops with coffee. Almost like smelling used coffee grounds in a filter. I don't particularly love the light colored coffee beers, though.

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3.96/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

The brewery certainly lives up to its name on this brew, A strong coffee flavor in an otherwise sedate style. It yields a unique variant of the style.

It opens pale and finely frothy. Very nice. The coffee aroma is prevalent and lovely.

The taste is a light blonde ale bitterness with just hints of the hops. The coffee bitterness compliments this well while neither is overwhelming. This is a very easy drinking, well made and interesting ale.

Highly recommended. I will go back for more of these cans tomorrow!

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3.19/5  rDev -16.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Clean burnt gold with a large white foam head leaving fishnet lace all over.

Smell is a little metallic and vegetal--(what is it with light Odd Side ales and the cabbage patch? Seriously it almost smells like raw potato)--with coffee and vanilla.

Taste is coffee, vanilla, and shortcake with a tiny spritz of lemon and a hint of grassy or vegetal earthy bitterness.

Feel is full but light, frothy and semi-wet.

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3.43/5  rDev -10.7%
look: 2 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a clear gold color. 1/2 inch head of an off-white color. Slight retention and slight lacing. Smells of coffee, strong chocolate, sweet malt, and a hint of pale malt. Fits the style of an American Blonde Ale. Mouth feel is sharp and crisp, with an average carbonation level. Tastes of strong chocolate, coffee, sweet malt, slight pale malt, mustiness, hint of hops, slight metallic wheat. Overall, weak appearance, aroma and body is strongly chocolate and coffee, but the blend is not balanced and the mustiness is a detractor.

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3.66/5  rDev -4.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

12oz can poured into a snifter

A- pours a hazy golden-straw color with a small foamy white head that reduces to a ring around the edge of the glass

S- aroma is predominately vanilla, followed by banana pudding & vanilla wafers. Undertones of coffee, grainy malt and cake

T- taste opens with light vanilla and banana pudding notes that follow the nose. Sugar cookie sweetness, followed by just a hint of coffee. The finish gives more vanilla, otherwise a clean linger

M- medium body with medium biting carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel and a crisp finish, high drinkability

O- a nice variation of a usually bland ale, goes down quickly

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2.59/5  rDev -32.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.5

Poured from a 12 oz pint glass into a tulip

L: Clear light golden pour... Thin white head with spotty lacing.

S: Not much to the nose.. mild coffee and grain.

T/F: Somewhat odd flavor.. some light malts up front mixed with vanilla and banana?... coffee is very faint, and pretty mild hop bitterness towards the finish. Light and well carbonated. Finish is... odd and not pleasant. Almost soapy.

O: Not a big fan of this one... odd and offputting flavor. Light and relatively drinkable but I wouldn't want to have it again.

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