Reason
Bearded Iris Brewing

 

On tap at Bearded Iris , poured by the owner and brewmaster Paul Vaughn

Two finger off white dense creamy foam over a turbid orange liquid

Aroma is citrus orange, mango and passion fruit , white grape

Taste is passion fruit, orange , mango

Smooth mouthfeel , almost creamy , no lactose or oats in this brew , 9% abv is will hidden

Good beer , repeatable

11-day-old can poured into a tulip.

Pure fruit juice body, pale gold in coloring with an orange glow around the edges. Initial finger of bright white head with very little retention. Latte cap that resuscitates with glass swirling. Nice streaks and splotches of lacing down the glass. Very traditional look for a hazy, but also quite appealing across coloring, degree of haze, bright white head, and residual stickiness.

A fair amount going on on the nose, but it's not big or bold. Citrus, mango, melon, stone fruit, and floral/weedy elements up front. Cream of wheat, damp grass, and light grape. It has a slightly "stinky" quality that isn't funk or onion -- really can't place it. Some inhales the fruit seems a bit green, while others it seems overripe. It's all fairly muddled together so a bit tough to pick out many individual components. Again, smells the part, and plenty pleasant, but not breaking any new ground.

Taste starts out with a nice balance of juicy, semi-sweet, pithy, piney, and bitter. Here the fruit is definitely overripe, save the grapefruit and lemon-lime that is quite pithy and bitter. Then a strong mineral note washes in, accompanied by a green vegetal element. it's somewhat balanced by the semi-sweetness and grapefruit peal, but is still noticeable and a little off-putting. Finishes pithy with a strong prickle.

Keeping with form, the feel is soft and silky, but a touch thin.

This one got me interested out of the gate, but the more I sipped on it the less I liked it. It's certainly drinkable and inoffensive, but it doesn't really punch any of the buttons that I look for most in a NE IPA (which I'm assuming this is intended to be). Though you never know what these collaborations really represent, I was really curious to see what Creature Comforts, specifically, would bring to the mix. Unfortunately this one comes off as much more of an Other Half offering, a brewery that I have been highly unimpressed with over the past year. Pity.

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Revisiting this one 2 months later, a little age has done it well. This was originally a 3.75-ish beer for me. While the fruit flavors remain borderline overripe, the greenness is gone and allows for a really nice semi-sweetness to take over. Much more interesting and enjoyable through the whole can this time. Much more of a 4.00 beer upon revisiting.