Secret Machine - Strawberry Blueberry Gelato
Dewey Beer Co.

It looks like Dewey Beer is heavily into their Secret Machine line, as there are about a dozen of them at this time. Lactose is not listed as an ingredient on the label and that’s a concern. Although Gelato may imply cream or some other dairy inclusion, it's not specific enough. The problem is that there are some beer lovers that are vegan and some that are lactose intolerant and they deserve to know what they are drinking. Enough of that rant and on to the beer. The pint can emptied easily into a clear glass liter mug. The lightly violet head was modest and it's doubtful it will sustain. There's plenty of berry aroma in the air, both strawberry and blueberry. There's something else in the background, could it be lactose? The brew is dark mauve and it's opaque. The first taste hit is the berry blend, but it's the strawberry that dominates. As it finishes across the palate, there's blueberry, too. This is a nicely blended fruited sour. The question still remains; is the supple body resultant of added lactose, or just from a rich fruit puree? That the question must be asked tells that this has a wonderful body to go with the pleasingly balanced berry taste. It's certainly not sticky in the way most milkshake brews can be. So, if it includes milk sugars, it's well done. If it doesn't, kudos for making a good tasting fruited kettle sour with a decent body. But, it's not what a true beer lover seeks, as it's a shallowly sweet concoction with no bitter counterbalance. There's almost no glass lacing, although what was there showed stratification. It's a good beer that should inform those that try it what they're drinking.

1915
Name: Secret Machine
Brewery: Dewey Beer
Location: Milton Delaware
Style: Kettle Sour
ABV: 7%
Date: Unknown
Needing another beer to review, I started rifling through the bottom shelf of my fridge. My brain travels a hundred miles an hour from the day's events. Deciding what to choose is always tricky, so I chose this kettle sour. I hope it tastes similar to Brains from Drekker. Closing the door, I opted for a tulip glass. I started to paddywhack to my desk, sitting in my comfy green chair, and began typing.
Pulling onto the blue tab, a loud metallic click with the familiar hiss of carbon dioxide breaks the silence. The white label is adorned with something like Pokemon balls, it has a hexagon center, and the balls appear to melt. The purple liquid fills the glass with a light purplish/pink head. I watched the head dissipate slowly, leaving bits of fruit without lacing on the glass. The appearance is average for this style. It is hard to say what is expected; I have seen kettle sours with terrible head retention to excellent; there is a wide margin.

The aromas of tart, ripe blueberries emanated from the glass as it filled. Pushing the glass to my nose, I smell a light sweet cream with vanilla. It does not come across as gelato or ice cream. I am looking for hops or malt aromas, yet I find nothing. The smell is all fruit with sweet cream.

The first sip is a sourish ripe blueberry puckering my mouth, yet less acidic than a wild ale. After I recovered, I took a few more sips. I taste faint notes of dull overripe strawberries, generic vanilla, and the bitter lemon rind. I am again looking for malts or hops, detecting neither of them. I expected the malt to appear as a bread or cracker element, but the blueberries control the narrative.

The mouthfeel is tart and bitter, finishing dry. The body is not thick nor thin, about medium, and has abundant carbonation.

The beer is average for a kettle sour; the blueberries help push the acidic factor slightly more. I struggled to find the rest of the ingredients, and the strawberries fell flat against the blueberries. I could not tell you if there was gelato in this can either. I desperately wanted this beer to resemble Brains but did not. More harmony with the flavors would have improved this beer.

Dewey Beer Co. "Secret Machine - Strawberry Blueberry Gelato"
16 fl. oz. can without production codes or freshness dating
$6.99 @ Total Wine & More, Claymont, DE

Look: It's a murky pink-purple beneath a short head of dark pink that holds fairly well but eventually drops leaving little lacing behind.
Smell: Fruity with strawberry, lightly sweet malt, and minerals.
Taste: Tart, but also lightly sweet, with both raspberry and blueberry. It seems authentically fruity. It's not bitter at all but it is tart with an acidic, dry, and fruity finish.
Feel: Medium bodied and smooth with a moderate, fine-bubbled carbonation.
Overall: Pleasant, easy to drink, and charming.
Review #8,610

I maybe shouldn't ding the beer for its appearance as much as I'm going to, but I just find these smoothy beers extremely unattractive. Dirty cranberry color with a small amount of fizzy short-lived head. Aroma is also not "beer like", but it does smell tasty, with strawberry dominating. The taste is all fruit, with no malts, hops etc. I'm conflicted on how to rate this, because it doesn't taste like beer, but it does taste pretty darn good! I'll meet somewhere in the middle and go with a 3.5. Mostly strawberry as with the nose. Overall, this tastes just like I added Sprite to a fruit drink. It's enjoyable, but messes with my idea of "beer".

Great beer for this style, still a beer, and not a slushy cocktail

 

16 oz can poured into a tulip pint glass. Pours a thick reddish purple with a nice off-white head. Very sludgy towards the bottom few ounces. Aroma is sweet strawberry with some tart blueberry and sweet vanilla. Flavor is similar, slightly cloying and heavy on the vanilla. Mouthfeel is thick and syrupy with moderate carbonation. Overall it's certainly not undrinkable but it's tending in that direction.