Empress
Siding 14 Brewing Company

Awesome railroad theme these guys have going, and nice to have a brewery in Ponoka, Alberta.

Pours from my 355ml can with a half finger of beige head, reducing to a small ring shortly thereafter. The liquid itself is an orange-tinged copper colour, and fairly clear with only a slight haziness to it. Looks OK I guess.

The aroma is full of the usual suspects, and indeed a bit of heat from that 8.5%. Actually, it smells quite boozy. After that initial hit, there are some, well, dark fruit smells: some boozy figs and dates, along with a decent amount of citrus akin to tangerines or dried peaches. It's nice enough, not all that complex, and a little heavy on the alcohol aroma, for my liking.

The mouthfeel follows up on that, with a lack of carbonation and something a little "off" about the dryness that lingers with that boozy flavour. The combination of it all makes it a little cloying and a little less than sessionable (though at 8.5% that's probably a given). The flavours themselves seem subdued, and any delicate citrus refreshment is lost amidst the phenols. The sweetness of the malts definitely creeps up here too, and as the beer warmed in my glass I was definitely getting more of a sugar hit. It just sorta feels like their first foray into this territory, and the balance is a bit off somehow: sometimes it's boozy, sometimes a little too sweet, sometimes a little too dry, all at once. Bizarre, I know. All in all, this is not exactly something I'd grab again, but I'm definitely curious to try the rest of their lineup.

 

355ml can - their current Seasonal Release, with lots of sexy railroad imagery prose on the label, but no info about what's actually inside, sigh.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly tan head, which leaves some decent thick old forest growth pattern lace around the glass as it quickly evaporates.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, buttery crackers, muddled domestic citrus rind, a bit of earthy yeastiness, and some plain leafy, weedy, and gently lit-up floral hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, oily breakfast biscuits, kind of acrid orange and white grapefruit citrus peel, some damp minerality, and more herbal, musty, and lightly perfumed floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its palate-satisfying frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and sort of smooth, with a bit of hop astringency perhaps not toeing the company line here, as such. It finishes off-dry, the malt holding fast, while the complicated hops muck about, looking for a place to happen.

Overall - this one teeters on the edge of me considering that something is wrong with it, but comes through in the end as a malt-forward version of the style. I'd like to know what hops went into it, because that part is kind of peculiar. Anyways, the 17-proof booze is more or less well-hidden, which is always a nice thing.