Nanabam
Strange Roots Experimental Ales

 

 

 

Tap

Pours hazy golden, white suds of head form a ring.

Smells of light citrus. Some cracker.

Flavor is of sourdough bread and banana, white wine grape finish, almost champagne-like.

Medium body, light tingly carbonation on the tongue.

Interesting beer, not nearly as much banana as I was expecting but a lot of wine-like flavor. Worth a try while it's still around.

 

A cloudy, very sour beer - not too heavy. If you're into sour beer, this might be your kind of thing, but I found this beer undrinkable. The brew-pub is a pleasant facility, with helpful staff, and a nice outdoor patio area. But all their beers were sour.

Hazy yellow with a thin ring.

Smell is lime, hops, cedar, and tart funk.

Taste is spiced funk, sour lime, cream, and only a hint of banana, if at all--or maybe that's part of the cream element. The lack of *HEY! here's some nanners in your face* is not necessarily a bad thing to me, as the thought of a banana sour was a little odd to me at first, but this is quite a delicious beer.

Light and crisp but with a bubbly froth and semi-dry finish.

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The above review was for a draft pour. About a year later, I opened a bottle of Nanabam, and it seems to have either mellowed out or the bottle was simply a fuller experience. My new experience out of the bottle was that of a rounder, sweeter beer than I remember, with a unique, crisp tartness to it, delivering flavors of soft green apple and fresh but faint banana, ending with a light funk. A very unique, immensely drinkable beer. Oh, and they're apparently no longer called Draai Laag, ha!