Kveik - Aftershock
Shades Brewing

brewed for their anniversary, another super thick and sedimented sour ale, this time done with strawberry and banana and the obligatory lactose, messy looking and sounding weird on paper, but tasting delicious and smoothie-esque. the beginning of the can isnt so ugly, they never really are, but by halfway through or so its pure slop, more sediment than beer, as much here as any of the slurry series brews, not visually nice at all, a little pinkish orange color, some short white head, and very heavy looking. the aroma is lots of real banana, peel and all, mushy and ripe, impressively authentic, with the strawberry also honest but well behind it, some citrus notes emerge from the souring profile as well, and a light saison ester to this one is there as well. the grain doesnt taste or feel like grain, its soupy and thick and almost gelatinized in here, which i guess is the point in a smoothie sour, but its weird and this doesnt drink like beer really. the banana flavor is impressive, its the first and last thing i taste, and like so many of their other beers that sound like they would be gross as sours but then are amazing, sour banana turns out to be delicious. the key is that the acidity isnt too high, and all the body here holds the banana to the palate. some strawberry jam type sweetness as well, a hint of vanilla, even melon oddly enough, finally some banana candy too, quite tasty. i am sick of writing this in every single shades beer review i do, but i wish they could find a way to get all this creative and delicious flavor into an objectively better beer, this is barely drinkable through the bottom third or more of the can, and the novelty of the cool flavors is quickly lost to disappointment in another poorly refined beer. i have not seen much evolution on this front from them at all. that said, this is fun and unique and it tastes good...