Luminous 03
Great Notion Brewing

 

 

 

 

Luminous has come a long way in evolving into its “sour IPA” form since the first batch. The first batch of Luminous was a “sour IPA” in every sense of the word but the one that has put the likes of Hudson Valley on the map; it was literally acidic and tart, with a hint of bitter gritty undertones that just barely neutralized each other to provide a sense of balance and harmony between the flavor groups.

Batch two was when Luminous really started coming into its own, with the addition of vanilla beans and lactose giving it a nice smooth yoghurt-y after taste, which both complemented and highlighted the fruitier hops characters in a way we’ve come to expect from Great Notion’s IPA offerings. This was done, however, by sacrificing the “sour” contingent of the “sour IPA” as the tartness and the acidity of the blood oranges and grapefruits used in the fermentation process hardly came out in the final product—it tasted more like a fruited IPA with a smooth vanilla/yoghurt backdrop than anything else.

And here we are now, with Batch three.

Batch three picks up where Batch two left off, but with a tart/sour vengeance in mind. I’ve never thought of strawberries as being anything but sweet and watery, but Great Notion has mindfucked me into making me wonder if they were ever tart because that’s pretty much what you get straight up front: it’s like someone brought you a dish of strawberry and whipped cream on a hot Summer’s evening, but then decided to squeeze one of those lemon juice/extracts over the entire mess without you noticing. Underneath the “tart strawberries” is the same, soothing vanilla yoghurt finish that made Batch two so memorable—I bet any yoghurt flavor would work with this base beer: black cherries, apricot, blueberry, passion fruit, pineapple, etc.

I’m not particularly elaborate today because it’s been a storm wreck of a couple of days, but I can foresee Luminous having its own series just based on fruit flavors, kinda like what Mikkeller had with spontan-, and what Hudson Valley is absolutely making a killing off Silhouette and every other one of their obscurely named beers that I can’t remember.

On tap.
L: Bright pink, watered down strawberry red in color. Hazy appearance. No head, slight lacing.
S: Tons of strawberry and grapefruit. Very fruity with defined sour aspects. No hop presence.
T: Really liking it. Loads of strawberry, vanilla and citrus. It is tart and vanilly, which is an odd but pleasing combination. The finish is citrus with resonating flavors of berry and lactose. Lactose comprises the majority of aftertaste. Hop profile is very mild, if existent.
F: Light in terms of body and weight. Moderate to high carbonation. Nice feel, perfect fizzle. No abv detection.
O: Super enjoyable. Probably my favorite 'Sour Ipa' to-date. I would drink again, and am glad to have tried. Cheers!

 

Has hints of some great taste but never quite hits how I wanted.