RBG
Great Notion Brewing

 

 

Can poured into a Mountain Rambler Brewery snifter

A: Pours hazy kinda watermelon-y reddish pink with a frothy pale pink head that settles to a light layer and laces very nicely.

S: A quick hit of lemony lactic tartness gives way to a wave of jammy berries and candy sweet tropical fruit, with subtle earthy notes, and a slight toasty white bready malt base.

T: Fruity goodness, raspberry and strawberry jam leads, followed by light blueberry pie filling, then opening up to plenty of tropical guava, with a little lemony lactic tartness to counter all the sweetness, subtle earthy tones, and a base of slightly toasty white bread-y malt.

M: Medium to full body, mildly prickly carbonation, chewy, 9% ABV is totally hidden.

O: Great Notion's berry kettle sours just hit different. Here the guava adds the perfect compliment of ripe tropical fruit to the jammy berries. Aside from the bigger mouth feel you'd never know this one is as strong as it is until your glass is empty and you're seeing sideways. Really tasty beer and a fitting tribute.

Popping open a pint can unleashed a fruity aroma akin to a fresh boysenberry syrup being pour onto some hot pancakes. Maybe that reference is sweeter, but there's plenty of sweet to smell along with the tartness here. Plenty of carbonation leads to a moderately foamy pour into a clear Imperial pint glass, albeit at room temperature. It's dark and opaque brownish red with an off-white head that only captures a hint of its color. It's also dull the way lactose turns brews, although that isn't listed as an ingredient. Then back to that heavy berry smell that's so nice. To drink it is to suspect it is milk-free, as it's smooth and rich, but not at all sticky. There's probably just plenty of berries and guava in the mash. The taste is very berry, with the raspberry especially taking the lead. With this much fruity goodness, the best that can be hoped for is a good dose of tartness. Sour is out of the realm of possibility. It is tart, but sweet enough that many who claim to dislike sours would have to admit liking this. With its amazing aroma, wonderful mouthfeel, and rich and complex taste, even the most devoted traditional beer lovers may have to acknowledge that this is one uniquely good brew. The high ABV is well-hidden and although not recommended, a second could go down as tastefully and easily as the first. This one outdoes the brewery's XL Jammy Pants and that’s not an easy thing to do.

Canned 2/17/23. "All rise" stamped on the side of the can

Moving right along with the BIF beers from woemad, we have a Kettle Sour from Great Notion, a style they tend to excel at. Raspberry, blueberry, and guava seems like an odd combination of fruit for a beer, but it fits the acronym I suppose. Let's see what it's all about

Pours an opaque reddish pink with 2 fingers of soapy pinkish white head that slowly fades to a thin cap and leaves nice lacing

The nose is sweeter than I would've expected, but it works nicely with the notes of tart fruit. I'm picking up on aromas of lemon custard, jammy raspberry, vanilla, tart blueberry, funky guava, doughy malt, light honey, and strawberry

It's also decidedly sweet in taste, which is not usually my thing for this style but I can get on board with this one. On the front end of the sip I'm tasting jammy raspberry, lemon juice, juicy strawberry, jammy blueberry, bready malt, light wheat, and guava. The swallow brings notes of earthy guava, doughy malt, wheat bread, strawberry, raspberry candy, tart blueberry, lemon custard, and light marshmallow

A medium body pairs with gentle carbonation, resulting in a creamy beer. Finishes a bit sticky with a light tartness

The mouthfeel knocks this one down a bit for me. If it were more sour, I could forgive this, but combined with the sweetness it gets a little over the top at points. That being said, it's still pretty good for what it is

 

 

 

 

 

From the upper shoulder of the can, just under the lip and in ink: "IT'S HAMMER TIME 06/13/22"

Appearance: The body is opaque and purple with hints of pink. The head is large and creamy textured with a light pinkish-purple color. It has good head retention and sparse blotches of camouflage pattern lacing.

Aroma: It has a souring fruit aroma with notes of raspberry and strawberry. There is a pretty strong sulfur note that hits the nose at first but it seems to fade out as the beer sits in the glass a bit. The strawberry aroma also starts to overtake the raspberry aroma as it sits in the glass and it starts smelling a bit like strawberry syrup.

Taste: Up front there are notes of strawberry with some raspberry and a touch of boysenberry. Towards the middle of the palate it takes on a bit of a darker fruit flavor with a bit of blueberry. It tastes a lot like a pancake house has poured every kind of syrup on some pancakes and mixed it with every fruit they had. Towards the back of the palate some of the bitter characters from the fruit came through. It is nice.

Mouthfeel: It has a bit of a sweet start and it becomes a touch tart in the middle but becomes very bitter at the end. The bitterness is a bit like an acrid fruit bitterness. The mouthfeel is full and a touch sticky. Drinkability is good aside from the odd bitterness.

Overall: The can states that this is a "TART ALE WITH RASPBERRY, GUAVA, BLUEBERRY, AND NATURAL FLAVORS." It doesn't specify what the natural flavors are, but the beer definitely has a strong strawberry flavor. The blueberry and raspberry character also comes through. The guava seems to be missing but there are so many other fruit flavors bouncing around the palate that it is not lacking on flavor. The biggest downside to the beer is the odd bitterness at the end, which really saps a lot of the enjoyment that comes from the front of the palate. Aside from that this is a very juicy and flavorful beer. I probably wouldn't buy it again but I did enjoy some of the flavor and aroma components. I would recommend it to people who can stand some odd bitterness and also enjoy strawberry syrup on banana splits or who enjoy strawberry shortcake.

 

 

Potent berry aroma, especially the raspberry. Smells like a fruited popsicle. Yogurt smell. Taste punchy. Very sweet. Mild sour character (lacto bacillus or however you spell it). Slight grainy finish. I appreciate the flavor profile but it taste a little sugary and not quite sour enough for my taste. Not a bad beer but I'd have a hard time finishing a four pack.

 

 

Canned about 3 weeks ago.
Play on words, with raspberries, blueberries and guava.
Cartoon Picture of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on can.
She was a great woman. She deserved better.
Although... I just saw 9%. Damn.