Cranial Accessory
Arkane Aleworks

 

Poured a yellow-gold body with decent head and lace patches down the glass. Aroma has mild notes of citric, pineapple and some earthy dankness. Medium to fuller bodied beer with an earthy and dank dryness along with some acidic pineapple bitterness that mixes with something plush like mango sweetness. Finishes dirty and dry and is a nice sipper.

From a 16oz can, undated. IG is showing a 01/20/24 release. Purchased at the brewery 02/29/24. Served in a willi becher pub glass.

Pours a cloudy tangerine-orange colour with a finger-plus of head. Retention is pretty good, leaving a sudsy cap and collar and a sudsy sheet of slippery lacing.

Nose is bright and hoppy but with a distinct malty sweetness, too. Aroma of citrus peels, peach/nectarine and cane sugar. Aromatic woodiness as it warms.

Like the nose, taste is nicely balanced between citrusy hops, doughy malt and peachy yeast - so kudos there. Tasting tangerine, peach pie, marmalade. Bitter oily orange peel sting to end the sip.

Feel is juicy-sweet and sticky, fairly hefty bodied as is utterly right and proper for the abv, with bright, tingly carbonation. Starts to feel a little heavy on toward the end of the can.

Overall, an unusually well executed double! It’s sweet, it’s bitter, it’s tasty. The flavour profile isn’t really anything super-special but the sweet/bitter balance is top-notch and the mouthfeel is spot-on relative to the style.

I’m tempted to think there may have been some actual fruit used here, like maybe bergamot or something like that, but there’s nothing printed on the can that would support that supposition.