Alpha Female
Dru Bru

Alpha Female has a cool idea behind it, supporting the women of the craft brew industry, and specifically using a blend of hops from the Pink Boots society.

It's a very pleasant hops blend, which would be a good IPA all on its own. The hoppy flavors are excellent, and there's a nice bitter finish.

But it's the brandy barrel aging that makes a difference here. Both the brandy and the wood from the barrel come through quite strongly. Terrific stuff.

I notice that the other reviewers (from a couple of years ago) don't remark on the barrel influence. I wonder if the barrel influence has grown over time, as it's now a couple of years from when the beer was originally brewed and released.

I'm sorry I didn't buy a couple of more bottles to sit on. I'll have to stop the next time I'm headed over Snoqualmie Pass, and see if they have more left.

Pours a clear orangey amber with plenty of foam in the chalice. Highly aromatic with a mix of citrus, canned peaches, and a herbal finish. Dank but pineappley. Very sweet but bright flavors. This one has the hop candy taste and is rather sticky if you splash any.

Substantial body. This is quite a fruit salad of a beer. It seems like a wild assortment of flavors vieing for attention. Quite sippable if you're in the mood for the sugar. From the 12 oz can purchased at the beer store. Dated 3/24/2021 on the bottom.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium golden amber with a two finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of pale malt, citrus, grassy and piney hops, fresh hay, grapefruit, lemon and mixed fruit. Flavor is pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, orange, mixed tropical and light stone fruit with passion fruit and melon the clearest notes. Tropical fruit and a touch of pine in the nicely bitter finish. Medium bodied with light creaminess. Well, this was a pleasant surprise. The hop bill was long and seemed a bit busy, and in fact the flavors are largely fruit, but somewhat muddled. That being said, I really liked the hop flavor in this hop mixture. There is solid Citra to anchor it, and lots of interesting, if hard to parse fruit flavors, some of which are slowly revealed in the taste. Hazies have lowered my tolerance for fruit forward beers, but this one kept me interested and was fortunately nicely bittered. I got this for the great name that tickled my fancy, but ended up really liking it a lot; kinda wish it was a 16oz. One of the best ales I've had from Dru Bru and will bring me back to try them again.