Johann Discovers A Hammock
Aslin Beer Company

 

The beer pours a fairly bubbly white head that dissipates quickly. The beer itself is a clear pale gold that isn't really inspiring or or worth talking about.

The smell is fairly delicious. The notes consist of a delicious vanilla and banana that create a delicious banana cream pie. There is no hop bitterness in the smell except for the tiniest bit in the beginning but that gets covered immediately.

The taste is good. It has a good banana cream note similar to the smell and an orange hop bitterness. The banana notes are good but the hop notes don't really mix well with them.

The feel is decent. It has a medium body with light carbonation to it. Otherwise, it's fairly creamy.

Overall, a pretty interesting beer and one worth tweaking a little bit too.

Serving: Can
No date (Consumed Oct-11)


A:
Pours a relatively clear brass color with a finger of short-lived white head. Meh retention; no lacing. (3.5)

S:
Chalky, creamy banana-mango sweetness with some vanilla. (3.5)

T:
Follows the nose. Vaguely fake sweetness, tropical tums, some banana/vanilla and a kind of nutri-sweet-esque aftertaste followed by a brief flash of bitterness. (3.5)

M:
Medium body with moderate carbonation and a lingering sweetness that starts as sweet and ends as cloying there is also a faint "twang" that is neither pleasant nor entirely unpleasant. (3.5)

O:
A passable "weird" beer that makes me think of Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park saying they were so concerned with whether they "could" that they didn't ask themselves if they "should."
It is okay looking, tasting and smelling, but I didn't finish it and I wouldn't probably have it in the future. The flavor came through but doesn't seem very complimentary or completely "beer-like" to me. Lots of sweetness all around with a weird aftertaste that actually gets a little herbal bitter. I do have to tip my hat to these guys because honestly I wouldn't have thought you could get banana flavor into a beer. They did. Not really my cup of tea, though. (3.25)

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 oz. can from early September release. Poured into Aslin teku glass.

L: 1F+ white foamy head. Not a whole lot of retention. Leaves a thin cap and ring with no lacing. Beer is a somewhat clear amber, quite attractive.

S: Yes, you do get bananas and vanilla, along with citrus notes. It's OK. One gets the sense one's love for the components is going to have a large factor in scoring here.

T: More or less follows nose. Like all the Johann variant, this is a Mind the Hop base with added flavor. The banana pudding effort really doesn't work out here. You get banana and vanilla and spice but it's not melded like Johann and the Giant Peach or Johann the Mango Thief are. The added Citra flavors seem to distract from the effort.

F: Medium body, light to medium carbonation. As noted, construction and balance just aren't there for this one. ABV reasonably nicely controlled. Finish is pretty neutral and somewhat drying.

O: A rare miss from Aslin. I like the components well enough, but they're not working together in this effort.

 

Appearance: Pours slightly hazy with a golden/amber hue; not much of a head builds and not much lacing is left behind

Smell: The banana and vanilla tones waft above other, hard to distinguish, tropical fruit aromatics

Taste: It takes a while for the banana and vanilla to emerge but the flavors that make up the profile before they do are as hard to identify on the palate as they are in the aroma - let's just call it a grainy flavor; after the swallow, the alcohol adds a burn that becomes rather fusel in the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with low carbonation; warmth in the gullet

Overall: An interesting idea but probably works better with another base beer; in a DIPA, it is just miscast

Thanks, Slack, for the opportunity