Jane Misplaced Her Sandwich
Refined Fool Brewing Co.

473 mL can from the brewery; no canning date and served slightly chilled.

Pours a foggy, translucent pale golden-yellow colour, capped with one finger of tight, foamy white head that lasts for five minutes or so. Afterwards, a creamy collar is left encircling a filmy cap, with minimal lace deposition - looks ok to me. I do get a pronounced white wine/grape note, as well as some champagne yeast; hints of Asian pear, green apple, honeydew melon and dry cider are also apparent.

Mellow and unassuming at the forefront - I'm getting flavours of honeydew melon, pear, apricot and applesauce, with white grape figuring in strongly. Finishes with more of a white wine/champagne yeast note, paired with some resiny, floral bitterness and modest ethanol warmth that gives way to a relatively dry conclusion. Full-bodied, with moderate carbonation that does add some crispness to each sip, but it definitely lacks the enthusiastic, spritzy mouthfeel of an actual brut. Limited drinkability, but the 10% is actually rather well-masked IMO. Fans of Zane's Avocado Bag should appreciate this beefed up imperial equivalent.

Final Grade: 3.82, a B+. Five years ago, it seemed every brewery was hopping on the brut IPA bandwagon... but apparently the wheels quickly fell off said wagon, because this style never actually took off. Indeed, it seems the brut IPA's fifteen minutes of fame are long over - in fact, Jane Misplaced Her Sandwich is the first new brut I've seen in a few years. I kind of like the idea of this beer: I mean, if you're going to mimic champagne, you might as well go all out and make it super-high gravity, right? And it's not as if they did a bad job of that - it's just that I honestly don't see myself craving another glass of this, probably ever.