Wild Side
Bearded Iris Brewing

 

 

 

 

2.5 week old can poured into a tulip. Nice and slightly different new offering from BI, at least in terms of some of its components.

Typical attractive orange-gold, hazy (but not turbid) body with plenty of bubbly carbonation and a small eggshell head of creamy bubbles that dropped fairly quickly but provided nice spots and stripes of soft lacing.

Aroma profile is where this one really shines, especially for a 6% beer. Big, bright orange, mango, green grape, candied fruit, herbal greens and dank grassy notes, some pine, red berries, and a little lemon. Really a lot going on here, with waves of different notes on each inhalation. Really comes together nicely. BI beers tend to share a lot of overlap in terms of nose and tongue, but the nose on this one is more distinct than most. You're not going to mistake it for some giant DDH IIPA, but for the category it's a winner.

Taste brings things back down to earth, as most of the shining characteristics on the nose are muted or absent on the tongue. More traditional BI flavor profile, with lots of citrus pith (more lemon than orange), a ton of grassy and crackery personality, some herbal notes, a little dankness, some green onion and resin, and a lot of green grape on the back of the sip. A little bitterness, almost no sweetness, and fairly dry. Easy drinking for sure, especially when you're taking in the aromas on the nose as your raise the glass to your mouth. Solid but no new ground broken in terms of taste.

Feel is typical BI IPA: medium-thin (closer to thin) but very soft and silky, so it feels bigger than it really is.

Was pretty excited about this one out of the gate, as it's very attractive and the aromas are wonderful. But the taste and feel don't keep up. Glad I tried it, but can't imagine I'll seek it out if it comes back into the BI rotation in the future.