Skadoosh XXVIII: Lotus
The Alchemist

From a 16oz can purchased at the brewery early last week. Served in an Alchemist-branded spiegelau IPA glass because I’m OCD about things like that.

Pours a just barely hazed sort of brassy-honey-gold with a big, pouffy three-finger head. Retention is excellent, leaving a permanent thick and lumpy bubbly cap and fat gobs of lacing.

Aroma is sharp and medicinal. Bitter, woody herbs and sandalwood-like incense.

Taste: First impression is of utter bitterness and astringency but that isn’t quite right - there’s a dense maltiness which blunts the edges and smooths out the corners. Still, if you told me there’d been sandalwood in the boil, I’d believe it. Grassy, leafy bitterness, woody incense and, late in the sip, a trace of sweet vanilla cream

Feel is somehow alternately creamy-thick and astringent, medium-hefty bodied with fine, bright carbonation. Incense-infused hop oils cling to the back of my tongue causing a mild burning sensation.

Overall, a bit of a mixed bag for me. So far as I know, this is my first exposure to lotus hops and it seems at first blush to combine some of the best of the intriguing complexity of a hop like Simcoe with the grassy-dirtiness of a random clump of lawn and a handful of leaves. Rendered into a paste and applied to a wound, it might very well prove efficacious in treating a particularly nasty infection. Kudos to Mr. Kimmich for being a brave experimentor, and I’m honored to have had the opportunity to try this beer, but thank god there was a two four-pack limit.

Serving: Can
No date


Pours a crystal clear brass color with a big cap of puffy white head. Decent retention; some lacing. The aroma is earthy, herbal, grassy and full of hop bitterness. The flavor follows this up with resinous, herbal, medicinal, spicy hops. It is medium bodied and dry with active carbonation and it leaves your mouth shellacked (maybe not actually a word) in hop oils. Definitely a solid beer along the lines of what Alchemist makes. However, this one is a little too much like running a weed eater through an herb garden for my tastes. It is solid and I drank the whole thing, but the hops are pretty intense and bring a sticky bitterness that overshadowed the rest too much for me. This is a hard one to rate since I usually try to rate to style. As such, the 3.75 scores are where I thought it suffered. It was a tasty IPA but made with a hop that is too assertive for me.

4.25...4...3.75...4...3.75

 

 

A: Pours a yellow-orange color with 2 fingers of head that fades down to a nice cap that leaves good lacing

S: Some citrus, pine, and floral notes up front. An underlying earthy/herbal note in there as well. Almost spearmint-like

T: Follows the nose. Starts off with some fruity notes as well as some light floral and pine. Light bitterness. Moves into the herbal/earthy tones. Finishes with lingering fruit and floral notes

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation

O: Another great iteration of Skadoosh. The lotus hops are definitely interesting and make a nice play against the usual yeast/malt combo. Keep them coming!

16 oz. can.
Moderate pour yields a one inch white head over a fairly bright, light golden body with some nice lacing. Nose of citrus, slight pine, very slight tropical fruit, and an earthy, herbal, floral kind of thing going on. Taste is tropical fruit and slight sweet citrus at first, then a citrus pith bitterness, and, as it warms, a hint of vanilla is detected. Also, a bit of pine resin bitterness on the finish. Wow! Lotus hops, so unique and intriguing! Cheers to John K. and crew for yet another fine offering!