Thunder Buddy
Solace Brewing

A previous reviewer had this one just right!!! "...a very subtle, smooth and solid IPA. There isn't anything amazing about it but it's good..." I couldn't pin down any specific aromas or flavors (granted I had it with sushi and lots of wasabi /soy sauce) but it was juicy and somewhat bitter and went great with my meal. I looked up Mandarina Bavarian hops and read that gooseberry, strawberry and black currant flavors are also present along with citrus (tangerine). this coupled with Citra hops led to a generic "fruitiness" on my part!!!! The beer itself presented as a cloudy gold color with a medium sized foamy white head and lots of thick bands of lacing. Head retention was good as well. Aroma and taste were pleasant - fruity and moderately bitter - with no one characteristic standing out. Mouthfeel was crisp and moderately bitter, went down easy!!!

This is a very subtle, smooth, and solid IPA. There isn’t anything amazing about it, but it’s good and sometimes just being good is good enough. Refreshing IPA and at 6.2% it’s easy to finish several and not feel it. Straw yellow, light citrus smell, and light juiciness. Will happily keep drinking it.

 

 

 

A - Hazy medium golden orange color

S - Onion and garlic hit the nose up front followed with a little bit of citrus and earthiness.

T - Light earthy citrus, berry, melon, and spice. Leaves a nice, earthy citrus layer lining the mouth.

M - Big medium body with soft underlying light pricklies. Finishes really dry.

O - Earthy and light on the flavor.

Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Canned September 19th 2019.

Real nice looking IPA out of the can. Frothy uniform making head right off the pour making an easy three fingers tall plus off white head. Big retention, a giant flat cone of consistent puck and island on top. Body color is a slight pale amber, leaning to lemon yellow and a slight green looking glow. Real good looking IPA.

Fantastic focused hop nose. Excellent hop aroma that is full of light pineapple, thicker orange citrus tones, and a big gulping touch of candy like zest. Wonderful aromatic perfume like sweetness hinting as well.

Palate hits exceptionally simple and well. Quenching full bodied malt backbone, hints a little chewy wheat, but with a far lighter texture and makes for very easy fast drinking. Mid palate hits with excellent orange and bitter lemon qualities, then hits with sweet pine and mint on the finish. Light carbonation makes the palate slightly playful, but sweeter malts take over to thicken and bring the IPA into more balance.

Wonderfully and nicely crafted looking beer.

6 week old can poured into a snifter.

Yellow-orange, hazy (but not turbid), cidery body with a ton of carbonation pluming up the glass. Fluffy off-white head of compact bubbles that laces quite nicely. Glass ‘o juice!

Sweet citrus, dank grass, tropical fruit, wine grapes, doughy biscuit. Subdued but very solid.

Flavors don’t quite follow through. Pithy bitterness with minimal balancing sweetness. Lemongrass, multigrain cereal, a little green grape, and some faint floral and herbal notes. Fairly astringent greeness. Inhaling the aromas while sipping the beer makes for an odd experience as the sweetness you expect off the nose never arrives in the tongue. Comes off a bit watered down or simply fading.

Feel is well carbonated, soft, and slick. Light-medium IPA body. Very drinkable.

 

 

 

On tap at brewery:
A hazy yellow gold, light does dance its way through. Lovely sustaining white head with copious lacing.

Nose is a floral fruity combination of citrus, tropical and light grape notes. Not juicy, with perhaps a taming but not overt bitterness.

Flavor is similar, with a light cereal malt backbone being the support for the citrus rind and grape leave notes. The beer leans bitter but has moments where it seems more like a solid APA. Warmth increases the citrus and back end bitterness for me.

A newer-school IPA initially, with lower bitterness did seem to grow into a citrusy, moderately bitter IPA. Bordered on a notch down for taste and overall the first third of a glass.