Too Shallow For Commerce
Central State Brewing

This is another entry for New @jkblr Sunday, MKII, or CANtinued (Week 717) since I did not have a ChANce to run through all of the beers that were sent to me on my initial foray.

From the CAN: "Indianapolis was established along the banks of the White River to use as a means of commerce. Sadly, our fair river is too shallow to be of use. Heavily dry-hopped with Mosaic hops, this beer contains an explosion of tropical & berry fruit notes. This IPA is anything but shallow."; "A Midwest Exotic".

An AmeriCAN Brett! Wow. My only other one was Victory's Wild Devil & I made a crack about the Hop Devil, who is most assuredly female, having gotten a yeast infection. Bill Covaleski now refuses to speak to me as a result! 8=(

I love the name of this beer! I have been to Indy a couple of times & unlike many Northeasterners with their dismissive "flyover states" blather, I LOVE the Midwest. I really want to attend UW-Madison to get a Po.D. in English Literature & then relocate somewhere out that way (just not Ahia).

A Po.D. is a Ph.D. with an emphasis on written, published pornography. My thesis is "A Multi-Discipline Inquiry as to the Depth and Prevalence of Written, Printed Pornography in Victorian-era England". Queen Victoria, upon ascending to the throne, asserted that there would be precisely NO pornography, written, printed & distributed during her monarchy under penalty of death! MORE pornography was written, printed & distributed during her reign than at any other time in recorded history with precisely NO ONE being caught and/or executed. 8=) I want to figure out just how many anonymous authors there were, in conjunction with both the Linguistics & Statistics Departments, as well as working with IU's Kinsey Institute on Human Sexuality. It will be an interesting several years.

I love Indiana & I even almost married a Hoosiette at one point! My last entry has inspired me to CANsider coming out for Sun King's annual CANvitational, but for now, I am CANcentrating on this beer, beginning with a Crack! & Glug. I have a snifter for this one, in keeping with the brewery's directions. I was pleasantly surprised on the Crack! when it revealed itself to be a brimful craft CAN with nowhere for the tongue to go, resulting in some splashing & mild foaming through the vent. I began the Glug to alleviate some of this, but suddenly, my kitchen smelled like the Aegean Stables! Hey, I am all for the "If you're cold, they're cold. Bring 'em inside." mentality, but this smelled like every horse & goat in the county had suddenly taken up residence! Guess what? For the style, that is appropriate! I should also mention the beer's propensity to foam up marvelously, forming two-plus fingers of dense, rocky, soapy, eggshell-white head with great retention. Color was a slightly hazy Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9). Nose was really rank! It smelled like Jim Locker meets Stinky Cheese Man in the stables! 8=O Oh well, I tend to embrace such things. You know the saying … "If you CAN get past the smell, then you've got it licked!" Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was an interesting amalgam of lemon juice; soft, smelly cheese; sweaty jock strap; dried gym socks & a white wine vinousness. Remember, rate to Style NOT to Taste (except Overall)! The flavors kind of grew on me, but the smell was a challenge each & every time that I lifted the snifter up to my face/nose. Finish was gaspingly dry, proof of the yeast's presence & ability. Phew! If this is yer cuppa tea, more power to ya! Me? I'm ready for something else.

16oz canned 7/2/18 poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 7.4% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright with a touch of chill haze. On the second pour, chill haze is replaced by actual haze. The color is golden and the head is light khaki in color and quite pronounced. The head recedes to a few bubbles and leaves a little lacing. The aroma is armpit, followed closely by ripe pineapple and berry. The taste is a smash to the mouth of hops and Brett manifesting itself as pineapple, berry, fruit cocktail and light body odor. Mouthfeel is medium to thin bodied, well carbonated and very dry in the finish. Overall, good. Sorry for the BO and armpit descriptors, but I've picked up the same in other heavily Mosaic beers. Not sure I need this level of dry hopping and the Brett all together. It's bold and actually enjoyable as you acclimate.

16 ounce can into tulip glass; no can dating, but is a recent local release. Pours lightly hazy deep golden amber color with a 2 finger fairly dense and fluffy white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Nice spotty foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big lightly tart lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, passion fruit, red/green apple, mango, melon, guava, blueberry, citrus peel/rind, peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, white bread dough, hay, straw, herbal, floral, grass, light musty funk, and yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops, fruity/funky/spicy yeast, and moderate bready malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big lightly tart lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, passion fruit, red/green apple, mango, melon, guava, blueberry, citrus peel/rind, peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, white bread dough, hay, straw, herbal, floral, grass, light musty funk, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, grassy bitterness; and peppery Brett spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, passion fruit, red/green apple, mango, melon, guava, blueberry, citrus peel/rind, peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, white bread dough, hay, straw, herbal, floral, grass, light musty funk, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops, fruity/funky/spicy yeast, and moderate bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance, and no lingering hop astringency after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from bitter/spiciness and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately crisp, bready/grainy/sticky, and lightly resinous/rindy balanced mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 7.4%. Overall this is an awesome Brett IPA! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops, fruity/funky/spicy yeast, and moderate bready malt flavors; very smooth, crisp, and pretty refreshing to drink with the modestly bitter/spicy/drying finish, not aggressive. Great Mosaic hop profile. Awesome balance of juicy/dank/earthy hops and Brett complexity; nice bready malt backbone, with no residual sweetness from lingering dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example as expected.

 

 

 

 

A Mosaic dry-hopped IPA with oats in the malt bill for haze and Central State's house brett yeast. The brett does come through but less so than some of the brewery's other recent IPA experiments. This is still pretty approachable as an interesting bretted take on the NEIPA style. Good tropical citrus and *-berry notes to complement the barnyard funk and light tartness of the house yeast.

Can dated 11/16:
Pours a dull and murky yellow-tan-orange. with a large frothy initial head that faded to soapy sustaining head with no lacing.

The nose has some light melon and tropical notes behind an interesting minty herbal note. There's an almost eucalyptus note in this offering.

The taste does start ever briefly with a juicy tang that gets countered by a piney bitterness. The bitter pine flavor is stronger than the juiciness and takes over with a wintergreen flavor. Berry notes peek through this by mid taste. Then the flavors seem to balance and blink out. This improves some with considerable warmth, where the somewhat quick ending only leaves more of a piney flavor than the initial very light herbal note. This is a medium body, fairly smooth drinking beer.

A little surprised to the ending of this beer initially. Luckily it improved and the pine/minty/wintergreen flavors got to linger a little longer. Definitely one to revisit to see if I missed something.

 

Poured a cloudy, yellow-orange body with minimal head. Bitter and acidic hops with an odd touch of spiciness in the aroma. Smooth, cloudy and fuller body with acidic sharpness with a touch of orange and tangerine sweetness that offers a tad bit of balance.

 

 

one of the best IPAs i've had. SOOO amazing, juicy as fuck, uber hoppy without the oiliness and bitterness of hops. So so so good. How is this not their highest rated beer?

 

Very nice brett IPA and I don't normally like brett

Pours cloudy yellow orange. Nice color. Not much head on draft. Kind of lifeless appearing. Aroma-pineapple, peach, some, some mint. Taste- pineapple, peach, nice kind of dry yeasty taste. Bubble gum. And some kind of astringency. Mouthfeel is not real soft. A little tingly really. Overall- not quite to the level of NE styles on feel and taste, but it does taste good.

An IPA not a wild ale, but they only brew with Brett, so an interesting take. Solid, not mind blowing, but definitely worth checking out. Curious to try other styles from them