Thunder in Paradise
Alvarado Street Brewery

 

 

Type: 16-oz. can
Reviewed as: New England Double / Imperial IPA
Glass: Clear shaker pint glass
Price: $7.00
From: Lama Dog Tap Room in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Purchased: Dec. 24, 2019
Consumed: Dec. 25, 2019
Misc.: Did not check for canned on date

Didn’t plan on picking up any more beer after spending way too much earlier in the day, but still picked up some more as this one caught my eye. Online description read, “Hazy Cream Double IPA with raw & malted oats, and milk sugar. Double Dry Hopped with Mosaic & Citra cryo hops along with Simcoe & Idaho 7 for a rush of bright tropical fruit flavors to the face. Creamy texture, hint of sweetness.”

Poured a golden hazy color with two fingers of frothy off-white head. Lots of fast moving bubble streams coming up along the sides of the glass. World-class foamy lacing. Perfect retention. (Sight - 4.75)

Smelled stone fruit, pineapple, orange rind, Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic, dank Idaho 7, vanilla and sugary cereal milk. A little better out of the can with Simcoe, Citra and stone fruit leading the way. (Smell - 4.25)

Taste followed the nose for the most part. Really sugary and sweet. In order got sugary Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, dank Idaho 7, stone fruit, pineapple, tangerine rind, floral, vanilla and sugary cereal milk. (Taste - 4.00)

Medium body. Creamy texture. Average carbonation. Sugary, sweet finish. (Feel - 4.25)

Excellent overall. Glad I got to try it. (Overall - 4.25)

4.17 | 93 | A-

Thank you Gi for this can! This will be my first Alvarado Street beer. Long overdue.

Pint can - dated 12/19/2019 - poured into an ale tulip at 46F.

Note: I generally do not enjoy beers with lactose in them, but I will attempt to overlook this for the purpose of the review.

Pours a murky burnish pale orange hue, topped with four full fingers of off-white head, despite a very gentle pour. Head retains its shape for a couple of minutes, before slowly deflating from the inside out, leaving substantial lacing behind. Some effervescence can be seen.

Nose: A pungent aroma of dank, overripe tropical fruits, including mango, guava, pineapple, and lychee, as well as a big note of strawberries and cream sit atop a fluffy, oaty malt base. No detectable lactose aroma, which is a plus for me. A little bit of earthiness, but again, it's more of an overripe mango/peach/apricot dankness than truly musty earth. I'm guessing there's a good dose of Citra. Possible Simcoe in the mix, and maybe Amarillo or Mosaic. Maybe El Dorado? I can't quite put my finger on the hops, but I'm definitely leaning towards Simcoe.

Palate: The beer greets the palate with an immediate oaty malt sweetness, followed by a big double dry-hopped blast of tropical fruit notes. Tons of densely sweet ultra-ripe mango, as well as ripe pineapple, papaya, guava, and dank, sweaty fruit. Just vague fruit, but definitely fruit. Some funky berries, and a little bit of a vegetal hop green note. More dank Simcoe, but it's so overpowered by the fruitiness, that it just lends a touch of musty earth to the fruit, rather than dominating. The lactose quickly becomes apparent, but it's actually surprisingly well integrated. I normally despise the addition of lactose in any type of beer, but the flavours in this are so saturated, that it takes the lactose, and it actually ends up coming across like a cream note. Sort of like a cream-based tropical smoothie, with a ton of hops thrown in. The lactose adds a heavy whipping cream note, perhaps with a touch of vanilla. The beer finishes with the tropical notes fading, the dank Simcoe fading, and the greener notes taking longer to fade, leaving a slightly fruity, slightly dank, hoppy green flavour, with the creamy lactose note coming to a peak. There's a ton of hop oils and resinous flavours, but there is literally zero bitterness. Not literally like, literally in the way like high school girls like, literally say literally like, all the time for like, literally everything. No, in a literal sense, the beer has no bitterness, which seems slightly out of place for such a hoppy beer. The sweetness eventually subsides for the most part, and the finish concludes with a dry hint of sweaty tropical fruit, lots of oats, bitterless hop resins (we're making "bitterless" a word), and lactose, with its milky, chalky lactose flavour, unobscured by the hops.

Mouthfeel/Body: This is a very texture-oriented beer. There is a lot going on in terms of mouthfeel. There is an initial fluffy softness from the seemingly high proportion of oat in the grist. I would venture to guess that there are likely both raw AND malted oats in this, judging by the flavour and texture. The lactose lends a huge creaminess very early on, boosting that big soft milkshake feel. Creamy is the word. Luckily, there is a good amount of acidity from what I'm certain is a double dry hop treatment, and there is a surprisingly lively effervescence, which helps to balance that creaminess. The finish brings clingy, resinous hop oils that coat the palate, as well as a bit of a chalky feel from the lactose, which is par for the course, as lactose always finishes with a chalky texture.

Overall: This is a very interesting and colourful beer. Calling it an IPA seems a little odd, but I am a hardcore purist when it comes to beer, and for the entire duration of my obsession with craft beer, I have absolutely despised the use of lactose, regardless of the style of beer. This is by far the best example of lactose in beer that I have ever come across. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I would probably buy this beer. I certainly would not refuse the offer to drink it again. It's vibrant and loud, and there are a hundred different things going on at once, between the big bright fruity hops, the dank notes, the fluffy oats, the creamy sugars, the effervescence and the oils. On paper, this beer should be a mess, but I have to credit Alvarado Street for pulling this off so well. Would love to see what else the brewery is capable of.

L: solid foamy pour that was about two and a half finger lengths, lasted decently. Color was murky yellow and orange. Great bubbles and great lacing, very large patches.
S: nose is subtle but complex: orange, sugar, grapefruit, some dankness, nuttiness/earthiness, and bits of banana.
T: taste is a match to the smell, nothing pops out but everything is complex and balanced. That milk sugar makes things very interesting. It is a salty sweet type of experience, you get these sweet and nutty flavors and then finish with citrus and the tang of a hazy IPA. Really really good.
F: this has a heavy, dense feel and lower on the carbonation with a mild dry finish.
O: I love this beer, a great yin and yang. It might not be my go to everytime but it is an absolutely incredible beer. Well done guys.

Sweet, tropical hoppy, slightly malty, citrus and dank nose on this one! Great aromatics...just not as prominent as I like. Taste follows with a sweet and juicy vibe that has a very subdued tropical-hoppy bitterness. This has great depth and mouthfeel....creamy juicy with the oats and milk sugar kicking in. Great!

 

 

 

 

Canned 2/5/19, consumed 2/16/19

Pours completely hazy, murky light orange with a small head that fully dissapated, very minimal retention and left a tiny amount of spotty lacing.

Bright, sharp, juicy aroma of tropical and citrus fruits, great blend and good strength.

Taste follows, very zesty, juicy, and sweet. A very tiny bit of floral/herbal hop notes at the end provide a nice fullness to the flavor.

Feel has that ASB smoothness and creaminess you're looking for, very low carbonation, maybe a bit high on the sweet side, no real bitterness, medium with good body.

Overall, another great hazy from ASB but what else is new? I missed this one's previous release(s), but from the looks of past reviews, it appears that ASB has dialed in the recipe very nicely this time around.

 

Canned 10/11/18.
L: Pours murky muddled yellow in color. About a finger of a bubbly white head which dissipated rapidly.
S: Very juicy smelling, with citrus, stonefruit and pineapple making the majority. Definite sweetness present as well with some pine. Smells like a juice bomb.
T: Very citrusy tasting with a generous amount of sweetness from the lactose. Some peach, pineapple and mango also present. Actually has a decent amount of hoppy bitterness to it especially noted on the finish. Somewhat harsh on the finish too.
F: Not as full and pillowy as I would imagine being brewed with oats. Very watery and thin with seemingly too high amounts of carbonation.
O: It is a beer that I am glad to have tried. It smells great, tastes decent but the feel just plummets. Cheers!

 

 

This is a great hazy IPA with an excellent base of hops and malts. Alvarado kills both the taste and the smell on those ingredients here. But somehow, at least for me, sugar brings it down, and I can't shake off that feeling. This would probably be a straight 4.5 beer without the sugar for me.