Coconut Banger
Aurora Brewing Co.

thanks to my brother for popping this, a truly weird sour ale, and calling it an ipa seems slightly offensive, even though i have no doubt this has been dry hopped, its trying to do too much, and seems misleading, but there are elements to like in this, even if i can only drink a little bit of it. orange and hazy and almost syrupy thick in the glass, not a real flattering pour and with almost no head or bubbles. this is done with lactose, tangerine, toasted coconut, a ton of vanilla, pineapple, and molasses and nutmeg, as if it wasnt enough already. the nutmeg is there in the flavor, the vanilla and lactose make this diabetic, and the sourness clashes with the warm spiciness this has. the pineapple is out in front on the fruit side, the coconut is evident too, and i like the nose of this better when i pick it apart and find all the elements than i do when i try to appreciate it as a whole, bigtime kitchen sink vibes here. the flavor is similar, sweet and sour both, the hops dont make sense, the molasses and nutmeg are actually the most interesting parts of this and work with the coconut and pineapple, they could have maybe stopped there, tangerine seems superfluous, the vanilla and lactose are over the top, and this ends up being a palate bomb, confusing and intriguing without really being super enjoyable beyond the novelty value. i hate that this is where modern sour beer has gone. the fruit seems a little forced, the coconut is natural and good, and the nutmeg lingers with the residual sugar, truly peculiar. heavy and near flat on the feel, and on my palate way too long, even with the lactic acidity, which also seems a little out of place. easily the worst of the three aurora beers we had in the same session, but still a fun one to dip into, exotic to say the least, but who wants to drink a whole can of this?! seems like this was born from someone doing ingredient inventory and deciding they never wanted to count all this junk again and just dumping it into a batch of inferior or infected ipa, im sure thats not the case, but if that were the story i would understand. it isnt really bad, but its not really good either...

A lot going on here, very murky and thick, nose is coconut and orange/tangerine. Was expecting a Painkiller cocktail like flavor but the pineapple mostly shows up in the sweetness and texture. This beer doesn't taste like a sour or an IPA, but the hops do provide some balance for the extreme fruit flavors. If you're into heavily friuted beers this one is alright, tons of flavor and not cloying sweetness. Not really my cup of tea.

Lots of coconut with a subtle sour taste with some tropical citrus and a taste of nutmeg in the finish.