Braxton Labs Guava Milkshake
Braxton Brewing Company - Braxton Covington

L: A murky tannish yellow with a fat finger of ivory froth. Low retention and minimal lace.

S: Guava blasts the olfactory, but it is accompanied by a powerful aroma of modeling glue or paint.

T: Following the nose on the sweeter side of off-dry, same bitter phenols.

F: Grainy and syrupy - this is a fruit juiced in all the wrong ways.

O: Guava is a favorite fruit, but not a fan.

There were a time when anything above a hint of cream or a complementary fruit flavor would have proven too much to be considered beer. But thanks to the brewers at Braxton Labs, and brewers of the like, those subtleties are long gone. An overwhelming fruit display slathered across a base of cereal and milk sugar blurs the line between IPA and milkshakes.

Pale goldenrod and cast in a pastel matte austere, Guava Milkshake is topped with a light tarnish creme. A rich fruit perfume circulates around tropical, citrus and orchard fruit before fading into an initial taste of cereal, shortbread and vanilla cream.

Its full flavors and textures of cereal and cream stew on the middle palate in baited anticipation of the hops that slowly build with pink grapefruit, under ripened orange and lime with a succulent guava taste from those obvious tropical fruit additions. A roundness of passionfruit, kiwi and pineapple keep things tropical while a juiciness of honeydew balance a smooth creaminess and a sharp aspartame bite as the session winds to a close.

Full bodied, creamy and mostly smooth, a pep of spice resonates on the finish like chewable vitamins laced with spicy hints of green tea, grassy botanicals, sassafras, verbena and vodka in a medium long aftertaste that can never fully shake those cereal sweetnesses .

New England IPA brewed with lactose, vanilla beans, and guava puree. Poured from a can into a Mash Cult pub glass. The pour is hazy and light orange with a thick head of eggshell-white foam. Above average retention. The nose is really citrusy and the guava really comes through. Joining it are notes of fresh grapefruit and a little vanilla.

Medium body with a soft feel. Lots and lots of fruit on the palate here. Up front I get the guava and once the hops join in, flavors of grapefruit juice and lemon zest also show up. There is ample malt to provide balancing sweetness and the vanilla and lactose help out as well, but there is no defeating all of those citrusy notes. Still, what bitterness there is here is very pleasant and makes the beer extremely refreshing. Plenty of citrus flavors linger on the finish, especially the guava and grapefruit.

So glad I was able to grab some of these. I really loved Braxton's Mango Milkshake IPA. This one is also definitely worth grabbing.