Voyager
Bearded Iris Brewing

 

 

 

 

Tinkering, tweaking, adjusting... brewers simply cannot leave well enough alone. No recipe is ever perfect and its that quest for a renewed sense of greatness that fuels brewers like those of Bearded Iris Brewing. And from that voyage through the brewers vast pantry of grain, hops. yeast and water chemistry has led these brewers to greatness.

And the beer that encapsulates that journey pours with the bright but matte finish of burnish straw. As a rich lather builds on the rim, Voyager teases the senses with a radiant perfume of citrus, tropical, melon and stone fruit along with a twinge of fruit-like tanginess and a bready roundness. Gentle sweetness skirts the early palate with a breadth of pastry cakiness shy of shortcake, honeysuckle and oatmeal.

The sweetness slowly recedes in a calculated fashion and allows the hops to shine in a way that's assertive for the hazy styles of hoppy ale. Lead with a branch-ripe tangerine succulence, the beer isn't without a bold complement of red grapefruit and lime from a citrus constituency. Tropical flavors of papaya, mango, pineapple and apricot all seem slightly of the under ripened variety while the ale trends malty dry, smoothly bitter and softly resinous with the pleasantly rife measure of verbena, grass clippings and herbaceous hemp.

Drier than usual, the imperial hazy IPA carries a criper, cleaner and more refreshing demeanor without sacrificing the seduction of a haze induced fruit smoothie, sherbet or creamsicle character that puts the best examples of these on the craft beer map. A peppery bite of gin comes with the piquant bitterness and leads to a medium long aftertaste of fruit peels, botanicals and sun tea.

 

Date: canned 09/25/18, sampled on 10/20/18.

Appearance: It looks like puréed pineapple mixed with orange juice plus a finger of bubbly white head.

Aroma: Voyager's aroma is more syrupy and mango forward but there is some sweet tangerine and pinapple as well. Like most Bearded Iris beers, it smells a little green and very fresh.

Taste: Big fruit juice blast with some green hop bitterness and the expected oatiness. Orange, tangerine, pine, candied fruits, and pale grains are mixed in. If my taste isn't too far off, there maybe some light strawberry as well. The mouthfeel is naturally thick and chewy, but there is not hint this beer is 8.1%. The beer does have a heavyness to it though. I'm totally over the "haze craze" and chunky oated IPAs, but this is one of my favorite Bearded Iris beers.