Odd Seasons
Honest Weight Artisan Beer

 

 

Random bottle find at the New Salem General Store (close to Orange, MA). 500ml. Bottle $5.95 plus tax. If you're near the Quabbin area of Massachusetts be sure to stop in.

Reviewed on 9/6/19

Poured 3/4 of the bottle into a Brasserie D' Achouffe large tulip glass to start: only a slight haze within a yellow gold color with orange highlights. A thick 'n creamy style, pure- white foam top hat style makes it look good.

The aroma, the "nose" ... Is very pungent and rather interesting, here is what I'm smelling: a funky mix of herbs and spices, lightly malted grains from the fields (que John Barleycorn) black pepper and wild ramp powder, lemon zest that smells astringent... Most likely from the Brett's Wild and funky yeast effect. Peppery, yet sweet fruits and tangy citrus from the hops rounds it out. But dang! Everything in it's weirdnesses seems to work together.

I love beers that push the envelope and blur the style guidelines in a creative and functional way. This is exactly what we have here.
Flaked oats provide a lush and creamy mouthfeel and grainy malted flavor. The malted wheat makes it snappy, clean and even more golden grainy. Norwegian Kveik and Brettanomyces strains of yeast can only bring forth FUNKY and dank earthiness to the mix X10!! Maybe even tangy, sour fruitiness..?.... The exotic hop combo of Vic Secret and Montueka are an equally weird and interesting pairing, especially mixed with the other awesome odd ball ingredients. Grains of the mid summer fields, peppery and funky metallic yeast flavors combined ..are right up my alley! The hops odd earthy fruitiness actually jives perfectly with the overall charecter and flavor profile of this Frankenstein's monster of an IPA.

I'm enthralled by this beer; complexity is so high that I feel every sip brings in something new to ponder. The after taste is sour, earthy and grainy and it seems to go on and on and on.

I feel like experimentation is the new frontier for beer. Take a chance, alchemy and luck, try new things...brace for something unique. By the way, I love Belgian and Belgian-style IPA's. Wink wink.

This looks quite interesting
Pours a large foamy dense almost creamy white head, with great retention, soapy lacing, slight hazy pale straw color

Nose brings some nice Brett funk, not overpowering, but a nice perfumey funk with mild Farmhouse funk notes, but more like lemongrass, tart, citrusy, a little tropical notes mixed in, citrus and tropical from both Brett/yeast and the hops, light grainy wheaty like malt, little sweet malt as well

Taste light malt character, grainy with more mild wheat-like characters, but Brett gets moderate, with some farmhouse funk but not quite barnyard or cheesy, more lemongrass and citrus again, mild tropical again hops and yeast additions, mild bitterness up front, increasing to a medium spicy hop bitterness late, light sweetness balancing the bitterness and funk, some tartness, as well as a tangerine and slight apricot stone fruit character in the center, bringing more tropical fruits late with that spicy yeast note, quite dry on the finish, a bit of pineapple lingering

Mouth is med bod, very high effervescent carb, a touch of tartness

Overall pretty nice, good enjoyable summer beer for sure, with nice Brett mixed in without getting crazy funky, great fruit characters, citrus, lemony, tropical, etc, nice malt to balance and support everything else, pretty enjoyable.

 

Bottle. Hazy yellow straw (I decant) with rocky head and lace. Beautiful lemon pastry aroma (one of my favorites) with grass and hay. Light fruity sweetness with light grass and citrus bitterness in very dry finish. Light body (I decant) and soft. Excellent. Then I poured the slur in and was gross. I decant IPAs.

Poured from a bottle dated Spring 2019 into the test glass
A - Murky (in a good way) deep golden color, loose knit white froth resides throughout the experience. Carbonation is tiny and marauding.
S - Orange, tangerine, some white pepper, lime zest, warm white toast.
T - Full on with the tropical , again the orange, and passion fruit, add a beautiful tangerine element, with a snappy spicy thread from the Brett.
M - Soft texture from the amount of oat I suspect, start has a spicy tension with all that citrus in the flavors, the palate is dancing with another partner, Carbonation is determined and plays a role in keeping that spicy, cheese rime thread in the mix. Quite a delight.
O - Well this makes you pause, excellent citrus profile, add the dance between Brett and Kveik yeast, you have a deftly executed delight.