Formatted Excess
The Eighth State Brewing Company

my first beer from these guys, and if its any indication of what they are all about, they sure are doing some weird stuff! its a huge stretch to call this an ipa, but it might still be the best of available style choices, its one of the strangest beers of 2019 for me. a session sour ipa done with grapefruit peel, lemon, gin botanicals, squid ink, and activated charcoal, what?! ive seen photos that look a little blacker than our crowler did, maybe some of that was lost in the journey out this way, its dark and definitely has some black elements, but there is also like a kale juice green to it, some haze, and oddly enough an airy white head. it would be gross looking if i wasnt so curious. the aroma is grapefruit first with the lemon and bacterial souring right there with it, fresh and zesty, tart and mouthwatering, its also obviously well hopped, some citrus there too, and a little greenness. definitely fresh to me, not too acidic, and real different. the flavor is nice, some minerals maybe from the charcoal but little else from the black elements, nothing from the squid ink far as i can tell, maybe a light briny sort of thing, but its mild at the most. the hops pop in here, passion fruit and meyer lemon tones there, a little sweet sativa grapey thing too, and a somewhat hearty body for a session, maybe more than just barley in the mash. its the grapefruit i taste first and last though, the most dominant element for me, which brings a contrasting freshness to the dark and almost gloomy looking beer. not sure what the inspiration was for this, but the black elements seem more for visuals than for flavor or texture. i didnt love it, but i definitely wasnt repulsed by it either, just a fascinating beer. the german lager makers would be offended by this, but i think its cool that american craft brewing has come to mean you can literally do anything to a beer that you want, and somebody will be interested in it. thanks to my buddy for sending this one out for me to try, definitely a fun drinking experience, still confused by this, but glad to have met it!