Teddy Bear Picnic
Grimm Artisanal Ales

 

Poured a golden-orange and cloudy body with decent head and lace patches down the glass. The aroma has mild citric notes along with something akin to maltiness, or at least sweet and sugary. Medium-boded, smooth, even fluffy at times, something akin to balance of tropical and grapefruit sweetness and floral hops with no cloying nor bitterness and an overall has a clean finish. Very easy to drink as ABV is hidden and really no crisp or bitterness to speak of.

 

A: The beer is very hazy to cloudy pale whitish yellow in color. It poured with a quarter finger high white head that left a short head covering the surface and lots of lacing down the sides of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of cream are present in the nose along with notes of lime and lychee.
T: The taste follows the smell, but has much stronger flavors of cream. Little to no bitterness is perceptible.
M: It feels nearly medium-bodied and juicy on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer drinks very well considering its strength. I felt that the aroma and flavors of Sabro hops really shined through.

Serving type: can

 

 

 

 

 

Look and feel are typical of Grimm IPAs. If anything, maybe just slightly thicker and more carbonated than some.

The nose leans mango / coconut, with some citrus peel. Almost no pine or dank. Less dank than Afterimage, for example. I feel like the coconut/cream note is the most distinctive aspect. Very aromatic overall. You can smell it from a few feet away.

On the palate it's on the sweeter side. Not too sweet, but more Lambo Door than Tesseract. I also get a hint of banana.[1]

Incredibly smooth. The alcohol and bitterness are so far in the background I almost wish for a little more bitterness on the finish. But I guess that's what makes this one unique -- kind of like a less cloying pina colada.

[1] I think Boddington's yeast often gives a flavor I describe as "banana" while others don't seem to see it that way, so disregard if you don't generally get banana from Boddington's. I know isoamyl acetate is sometimes considered an "off" flavor, and I have no idea if that's what gives Boddington's a banana flavor for me, but I will say that whatever it is that I'm calling "banana" is not unpleasant in the slightest. Other than bananas, my only experience with isoamyl acetate is angry honey bees. They use it as their alarm pheromone. As a beekeeper, you learn to back away when you smell it. But I'm not confident identifying this vaguely "banana" smell as isoamyl acetate, since for all I know a lot things smell like that to me.

From a 2.5-week-old can, pours a hazy, deep orange. Smell and taste are standard for a Citra/Mosaic NEIIPA—a little generic for this style. Not a bad thing, as this is an excellent beer, but it lacks Grimm's distinctive character. Still very enjoyable.