Already Taken
Beer'd Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

A: crystal clear; deep gold in color; 1 finger finely pored ivory head that receded to a wispy cap; nice lacing;

S: orange and pineapple;

T: follows the nose, although there is more orange than pineapple in the flavor; mild orange zest bitterness from the middle through the finish;

M: medium bodied moderate carbonation; moderately dry finish;

O: fruity, but not a juice bomb; bitter, but not a West Coast IPA:

 

Excellent webby lace from a moderate sized head. The liquid is golden and clear.

Weedy and grassy aroma.

Smooth and deceptive, I do not get any obvious flavors -- it's that well-balanced. The malt is a touch sweet with no graininess. The hop is strong with a white pepper bite which lasts through the long aftertaste the body and carbonation levels are in the middle of the pack. Simply a well made DIPA.

 

 

 

 

 

Under ripe mango, orange, grapefruit pith, melon and peach. A bit watery. Cracker malt. Drinks light and clean. Nicely balanced between sweet and bitter. A bit of a dry finish. Not bad, but not their best.

 

Wow, been a long time since I've had something from Beer'd... I actually think I've only ever had one beer from them, served two different ways. That beer would be Hobbit Juice, which I've had on tap and on cask, both of which were fantastic. So, you can probably infer from that fact that I was pretty excited to see some of Beer'd's beer show up at my local Craft Beer Cellar this past week! I picked up this one alongside a couple others and this is the first of the three I'm cracking into.

This is a double IPA focused on Azacca, El Dorado and Mosaic hops. It pours a surprisingly clear, deep amber color (between 9 and 11 SRM by my approximation) with an amazingly dense head of bone-white foam. The lace and legs here are phenomenal, with a consistency rivaling some of the very best IPA pours I've ever seen, even those fresh from the tap at certain esteemed breweries. There's a certain clarity to this that bespeaks high quality as well; in other words, this does not seem like a beer made by a smallish brewery from Connecticut. This looks world-class!

Well, I thought so until I poured the last few ounces in. Hanging out at the bottom part of the can was a mass of stringy solids that poured into my glass in long chains that looked like worms, immediately sinking to the bottom of my glass. Figuring it was likely leftover yeast, I decanted the beer into another glass to restore it to its former glory. Much better, but that was still somewhat disconcerting to witness falling out of my can.

The nose is heavy on syrupy pineapple and tropical fruit with a light dank quality and an overarching grassy quality that I don't find particularly appealing. This feels a little at-odds with itself in some ways... at first I was getting some nice combined elements of ripe papaya and pineapple with grassy pine backing the whole thing up, but as it's been open for a couple minutes in left to settle in my glass, it's turning a little odd... almost diacetyl-ish with some overly-sweet, overripe pineapple added. Light dank piney notes and more papaya come out as this comes to cellar and room temperature. Solid, I suppose, but not too special. I find Azacca hops to be kind of hit-or-miss, to be honest, so maybe this beer focuses on those over the other hops listed. I also think this leans a bit too sweet in the nose for my taste. Hoping it picks things up on the palate!

The flavor profile here is decent enough, with a bias towards clean tropical flavors and a supple, balanced addition of caramel malts to an otherwise biscuity malt base. It doesn't really seem like this beer wants to be noticed for its flavor, however, considering it only seems to display light notes of pineapple, mango, papaya and guava with a little bit of toffee and a restrained bitterness. It reminds me a lot of Hop Ranch by Victory, which is a beer I have long been "meh" about.

The feel is a bit too syrupy for its own good, with a sweetness I don't really enjoy experiencing in the modern DIPA style. That said, it also doesn't drink as strong as it is. Carbonation is on the lower end with a round and full-bodied finish. Not a big fan of this one. Hope my next two experiences with Beer'd are good!