Slushy XL - Strawberry Cough
450 North Brewing Company

To honor the unofficial 420 holiday, 450 North brings something else to the party- beer! Wrapped in a cocoon of strawberry, raspberry and apricot, there might just be a healthy side to this event than just the medicinal stuff.

Slushy XL Strawberry Cough pours into the glass with a heavy neon pink and mauve coat on the glass. Pouring nearly like pudding, the visual consistency and patient pull of froth is lather-like. And its sweet berry scent of stewed fruit, candy stores and pastry shops carry a heavy juice laced scent in unapologetic fashion. Jammy sweet with its very first sip, a dense cereal flavor is creamy, wheaty and plump with vanilla cream and berry pie filling.

Those puree flavors carry the essence of strawberry glaze to nearly pin-point perfection, but a complement of raspberry tartness and stone fruit offer a slim reprieve from the simplicity of powdered sugared strawberry flavor. Trending tart to add a faint balance to the sweetness, the late palate trends playfully tangy and slightly spicy with a hint of red wine.

Plush, pillowy and rife with sweet cream, this a very un-beer-like experience. It probably needed to be served with a spoon as its basically alcoholic slushie and exhibiting only a hint of strawberry tops as any resemblance to the 420 herb.

 

 

 

I'll preface this by saying that this doesn't look, smell, taste or have the feel of a beer. But it's delicious nonetheless. 16oz can, snifter glass. A slurry of pink reddish liquid, looks like a strawberry daiquiri. It smells and tastes like one too, in a good way. Smooth strawberry slushy, mild raspberry tartness. I don't get much more than that, but it's tasty, mildly tart lemon. Medium fuller bodied, thick and slushy, appropriate for the name. I don't think this counts as a beer but as a beverage, it's mighty tasty.