Mad Farmer Ale
Odell Brewing Company

 

 

I enjoy picking up a pint of Odell's pilot beers while waiting for growlers to be filled. Never heard of Mad Farmer so ordered a pint. The server said it was a porter brewed with beets. Beets!? Sounds interesting. The beer arrived in a standard pint glass with a brown purple hue, opaque. A thin cap of purple/white foam. Good retention and lacing. The aroma isn't powerful but you can detect earthy tones from the beets and perhaps hops, a fair amount of malty sweetness. The flavor starts with the same earthy character found in the nose, almost dirty but not bad reminds me of my Grandmother's garden, the beets fade as the malty roast develops. Mild bitterness. Finishes clean and smooth with a lingering beet flavor and mild sweetness. Medium bodied with some carbonation but not much. Overall, I am not much of a fan of beets but this was good! Very drinkable and approachable. Unique. Enjoyable.

This, my friends ... is a Beet Bier. A fusion of Beets, and from what I can tell, some combination of Rauchbier and Marzen. Aside from the fact that anything with beets calls to mind doug, which calls to mind happy childhood moments ... I digress.

L: Purplish, with brown and orange hints. Pinkish froth head.

S: Beets and dirt and smoke, with lots and lots of sweetness behind. This smells quite literally like the earth.

T: Earthy beets fading into smoked sweetness. Finish smooths out into a lingering subdued sweetness.

F: Rich and thick, very little carbonation, which is fine by me. This would possibly (definitely) be even better on cask.

D: Really captures the earthiness of the beets, complimenting flavor of the smoke and a slight hopiness with deep aged sweetness are absolutely perfect.