Bloomerang
Two Roads Brewing Company

I beCAN a Two Roads B.C. brewery horizontal the other day, in support of The CANQuest (tm), with a collab between Two Roads & Lawson's Finest. Today, I wrap up my horizontal with CANother collab, this time with Industrial Arts that a) brings me full circle & b) set me up with a segue into my next couple of beers.

From the CAN: "Ale Brewed with Hibiscus"; "Before IABC came Two Roads. But, even before that there was always Phil, who made the brewing of elegant beer seem easy (it's not). It was an honor to cook up this vivid explosion of color and flavor with someone from whom we've drawn so much inspiration over the years. So now with Bloomerang, it's all come back around. Cheers Phil! - Jeff & Mike".

I did some pre-Crack! in-CAN agitation to ensure that any flocculate which may have settled onto the kick/punt was back in suspension. Following the Crack!, a solidly-streaming C-Line Glug helped to ensure its inherent lack of clarity. It foamed up briefly to form just under two fingers of fizzy, foamy, soapy, tawny head with limited retention. Color was a cloudy Amber to Deep-Amber/Light-Copper (SRM = > 9, < 13). Nose had an odd hoppy quality - it was quite West Coast with a pine & grapefruit familiarity, but there was also a flowery perfuminess that I could not quite identify. Hmm. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste followed the nose closely with a bright, refreshing floral hoppiness, but dogged by a persistent flowery perfuminess. The label mentioned "hibiscus" & then it dawned on me - of course, my old nemesis! I do not care for hibiscus, either as a perfume-y flower or as an adjunct in beer, but that's just my opinion, man. It made for a cute CANcept, but I was not enthralled. Finish was semi-dry to dry & refreshing enough to make me reach for another beer. YMMV.