Inflorescence
Hudson Valley Brewery

Inflorescence pours a hazy, bright, yellowish color with a tiny, lacing head. The aroma is lots of citrus and hints of vanilla. The flavor is citrus sour, with vanilla and a sweet finish. Good feel. Overall, it's a funky beer. Tart and sweet, citrus and vanilla, it's different.

There is a date stamp right on the edge of the can where the label meets metal, near the bottom: "11/13/23"

Appearance: The beer pours a pale milky straw color into a light beige, opaque body in the glass. It has a large fluffy white head with excellent head retention. Lacing doesn't form much on the glass but it does coat the glass with large thick sheets of foam before fading to a steep slope near the top of the head.

Aroma: It has a somewhat strong aroma of grapefruit zest, then there is this aroma which smells a bit like wildflowers that comes through. It has an odd aroma that often comes from wild yeast, and there is a bit of a souring aroma to the beer like old rotten fruit. It isn't as bad as it might sound it's just interesting. There are several notes to the aroma of the beer which are nice or intriguing but they all don't quite harmonize with each other.

Taste: There is a bit of a tart flavor that comes through up front like a sour peach, then it gets even more tart towards the middle of the palate. It has some notes of sour tangerine and tart peach flavor. It has a fair bit of Brettanomyces character which seems a bit odd with this beer.

Mouthfeel: It is full bodied and thick, with a dull-edged tartness which grinds into the palate slowly with each sip. It has a somewhat sharp citric bitterness but the overall weight of the beer drags it slowly across the tongue which helps to revitalize flavor as it develops on the palate. It is certainly a slow-drinking beer but that is largely due to the body and not the presence of alcohol, which is quite impressive, given that the beer is "8% alc./vol."

Overall: This is a really weird beer and I think it's the kind of beer that grows on you the more that you drink it. It definitely is not lacking in flavor and it has an amazing body. The weird brett character combined with the somewhat tropical and somewhat stone fruit flavors seemed strange at first but as time went on the beer just got more interesting. It probably won't be a beer for everyone so it's not likely to be one I would recommend to a ton of people, but if you are looking for something that is interesting...this is it. In a weird way I kind-of liked it.

I could drink this beer again but a 16oz can seems like a lot. The body on this beer is hefty and it is full of flavor. I normally recommend a full pint or bottle but in this case you could probably get a good idea about how this beer is from a sampler or a half-pour. It's a pretty neat beer though so I think people should try it.

 

 

 

 

16 ounce, tall can, without dating info that I can see.

Pour out all hazed and juiced looking in appearance. Subdued off white cap, goes to a film and leaves just some minor bits of fine lacing.

Enticing sniff of ripe pears, honey and vanilla.

Full flavor and full complexity going on here....more stone fruits, more honey/vanilla, melon, plus muted/moderate sour qualities....simply delicious....fine creation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at Hudson Valley Brewery in Beacon, NY.

This one pours a very

This one smells like orange creamsicle, decadent vanilla, lemon, and a bit of a floral thing.

This is much less sour than the usual HVB sour DIPA. The vanilla really is strong here, and adds a creamy and candied sweetness to this that tamps the sourness down quite a bit. There's lemon candy and creamy orange, and a lightly bitter finish.

This is surprisingly full bodied, and creamy, with a great level of drinkability.

This is one of the best sour DIPAs that I've had from Hudson Valley - it's a bit simpler and more straightforward than some of their super complex creations. In that simplicity, they find intense tastiness.