Solar Flare
Greenpoint Beer & Ale Company

 

A: The beer is relatively clear yellow in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a quarter finger high bright white head that left a narrow collar around the edge of the glass and a thin film covering the remainder of the surface.
S: Light aromas of biscuit malts, mangos, and oranges are present in the nose.
T: The taste has flavors of mangos along with notes of oranges. No bitterness is perceptible.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer is packed with lots of aromas and flavors from the Galaxy hops without any bitterness whatsoever. It's almost like a New England-style APA if there was such a style.

Serving type: can

Okay, I love Greenpoint as it's the closest brewery in Brooklyn to my garage and underrated IMHO. Most of their beers have been hoppy and a mix between dankness like local IPAs and more waxy/resinous offerings from the left coast. This beer wasn't anything like that as it looked, smelled, and *initially* felt like a macro lager but amazingly, the Galaxy kicked in and cancelled out the skunkier notes that I expected, resulting in a brew that wasn't like anything I ever had before!

The pour to this wasn't bad - opaque and melon-hued, this had plenty of head and good amount of lacing left behind once I took a sip of this. Thicker than a typical Kolsch, there was lots of melon, grape skin, basic malt, and adjunct-like filler in the odd aroma. All of those came through in the taste, but the Galaxy really kicked in as this warmed up. Lots of melon, stone fruit slickness, and some corn and rice filler (yes, I had to say it) in the mix as well. Cereal Malt could be felt here too as this reminded me of brews of yesteryear, and of the previous millennium. Tossed in with something tropical, light sediment, and lively carbonation, and the end result was something unlike anything I ever had before.

Amazingly, this was the only Greenpoint offering I had that felt stronger than it was in actuality. This didn't feel like a session but that was probably because I've had too many IPA's hop bombed with Galaxy. Part Kolsch, part IPA, and part mass-market lager, I enjoyed this in the sense that it was new, and completely different from the norm. Props to Greenpoint for brewing a beer that redefined what a Kolsch could be!