Lady Bug
Building 8 Brewing (BLDG8)

A- Tallboy can pours into a tall narrow chalice with a deep amber body and an off white crown. The head forms with a great thick and creamy texture peaking at a finger high with very nice retention. Lacing is gorgeous with large webs draping down the glass.

S- Getting a lot of both the hops and the malts and actually was super excited to see someone offering a hoppy red when at the beer store today. The hops open it up with pine, citrus and floral notes folded into the toasty, semi-sweet, bready and slightly nutty grains; the slightest touch of browned malt comes to mind. Grapefruit and orange notes.

T- Again the beer rides that nice line along the balance between the hops and the grains and in the flavor you get a bit less of the toasty notes and more of the bready, doughy, nutty and caramel malt notes. The hops bring grapefruit, orange, earthy, resinous pine, floral and herbal notes to contrast and balance the slightly sweet malts.

MF- Medium bodied and rather smooth. The beer is silky and has a slightly creamy texture and a medium level of carbonation. Bittersweet aftertaste.

This review just got me thinking how long it actually has been since I have had a hoppy amber ale outside of Nugget Nectar, much too long sadly. Well brewed finding a nice balance between citrus and pine hops and toasty, bready slightly sweet grains.

 

 

Poured from a can packaged this week from the brewery, into the test glass
A - Dark cedar color, excellent clarity, gently carbonated, with a fast to leave thin cap
S - Malts and conifer, a beautiful combination. A bit of spicy hops as well.
T - Follows the nose to a tee, solid malt base , balanced with nice piney hops.
M - Medium in body, semi sweet start but the hops clean up with just enough bitterness.
O - A welcome offering in this crowded IPA landscape, well constructed malt base, nice hop selection adds enough bitterness to keep things interesting.