Color Block
Prairie Artisan Ales

The cloudy orange tinged golden amber colored beer pours out into a Duvel glass with a 2” foamy ivory head that recedes slowly to a thick covering and then eventually to a thin irregular island of foam on the surface along with a thin ring around the glass while leaving behind a few large patches of lacing, most of which have disappeared by the last half of the beer. Sipping creates a double arch of foam with some patches of foam, some of which slide back down to the liquid.

The aromas are mostly about citrus and there seems to be more than one variety of citrus. There’s some lemon and grapefruit zest, a bit of orange and some tangerine. In the background there are also some tropical fruits—pineapple, mango and melon—that are woven in and backed up with some malt and a touch of vanilla.

The flavors are much as expected from the nose with lots of citric zest and some tropical fruits along with some light sweetness from the bready malt. In the flavors the tropical fruits are playing a more prominent role than they did in the nose. There’s also some light vanilla and a background of grapefruit zest bitterness.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied and fairly smooth even with the light persistent carbonation. The finish begins as the fruit flavors and the malt sweetness begin to recede, allowing the vanilla become temporarily more noticeable before it joins everything in sliding away into a citric, lightly vanilla tinged, dry and bitter ending.

Overall this is a drinkable and enjoyable beer that displays a lot of complexity in the aroma/flavor profiles. It is quite juicy and reasonably sweet, but it is also well balanced and there is just enough bitterness that neither sweetness nor all the fruit flavors are cloying. On the whole I’m glad I got a chance to try this one but that said I’ll probably not be seeking out this one again. My IPA preferences lean more towards the traditional and even a well made milkshake IPA is not something I want to include in my regular rotation.

 

 

 

Outstanding Milkshake style IPA! Love the orange and vanilla characteristics! Great work Prairie

 

 

 

Pours out a cloudy straw color. The head is of white foamy and not very dense. Its soap like. However retention is phenomenal and there is a lot of lacing.

Tons of citurs in the nose. That orange zest is strong. It does in fact have a slight creamy character. From the lactose, vanilla or both. A little lemon sourness as well.

Oh yeah its got a creamy taste. That combine with orange reminds me of one of those popsicles with icecream in the middle. Very nice.

Soft, smooth, silky with soft carbonation. Superbly drinkable.

 

 

 

Pours cloudy gold orange color with a huge 2-3 finger thick foamy beige colored head that faded very, very slowly, leaving nice foamy lacing clinging to the glass. I expected better lacing to stick around, if I'm being honest (which I am).

Smells of orange peel, tangerine, lemon zest, lime, grapefruit, melon and all kinds of citrus fruit and/or citrus hops. Then come the second act of faint apricot, vanilla, biscuit, earthy/floral notes, some piney hops and more citrus zest.

Tastes of orange peel, grapefruit, pineapple, melon, orange Creamsicle, lemon zest, tangy orange juice, dry floral hops, tea leaf, piney notes and then trailing vanilla and biscuit or grains. The flavor goes back and forth between all citrus and this IPA with an orange Creamsicle dipped in it. The orange zest certainly makes it's presence known in a good way.

It's very smooth from the vanilla and lactose sugar in the mix, and the bitterness is low, but the feel just kind of leveled out there and did not make this session worthy. Overall it's very good and an interesting spin on an IPA with the vanilla, extra orange zest and lactose added, and while it hides the ABV masterfully I feel that Phantasmagoria is a much better IPA and definitely my favorite IPA by Prairie thus far.

I will go against many of the other ratings here and say that I really enjoyed this IPA - but then again, I really enjoy citrus zest IPAs. Nice hazy orange-yellow color with some fluffy head and spotty lingering lacing. Smells of nice fruit - orange, passionfruit, lemon, grapefruit, mango. Tastes similarly, along with herbal hops, malt, caramel and some nice vanilla. Smooth mild mouthfeel, good carbonation. Great balance between the bitter citrus zest hops and malt backbone. High ABV is well-hidden. Well done!

 

Bit of a gusher; huge amount of head production. Retention of the fluffy white cloud is quite good. Body is straw-gold. True to the can, the body is quite hazy once it settles into the glass.

Hoppy and confusing aroma, with pine, vanilla, cream, orange, peach, mango, oregano, banana ... a real challenge to figure out what's going on here.

Flavor is similarly confusing, with orange, mint, banana, cream, basil - just a confusing mess of hoppy flavors. Not a bad tasting beer, just very muddled. Almost medicinal.

Not as smooth and creamy as you'd expect, but surprisingly lively and easy to drink for 8.3% ABV. Definitely some alcohol heat.

It reminds me of a mixed tropical drink, where all the flavors individually might be excellent, but the execution just doesn't come through.

 

 

12 oz can traded from superspak. Poured into Funky Buddha snifter.

Honey color with an off-white head of 2 fingers. Bubbly lace remains on the glass as it recedes.

Aromas of honey, orange blossom, vanilla, and slight dirty/dank hop. Slight lime/lime sherbet notes as well.

Flavors are kind of a mess. Orange sherbet and vanillin meet dank/herbal/citrus hop. Slight lime sherbet, some plant material.

Feel is creamy and heavily carbonated. Slight biting acidity and light resin hanging on at the end.

Overall, if this were a witbier, it would kill. It's got an orange creamsickle thing going and that's amazing. But the dank/dirty hop does NOT belong in this beer. It reminds me of a peppery saison or witbier, It's a major mess. Kind of like they forgot to clean the lines in between beers on the canning line - but over and over again with each can.