Coastal Sunshine V4
Humble Forager Brewery

A - Pours out mostly opaque, deep orange with some red highlighting, with a subtle transparency at the edges. Head is a paler orange color, pretty quick to fade, with no cap or lacing.

S - A rich smack of tropical fruit nectar, with guava and passion fruit out front. A citrus and mango note offers counterpoints, but I would say passion fruit dominates the nose.

T - In contrast, the flavor is pungent mango, with guava and passion fruit offering the cross-currents. As with the nose, it is a nectar drink experience. The tart finish is clean, brisk, and keeps things easy-going. I could have quaffed this super fast, if so inclined.

M - Moderate weight, sticky, with some carbonation and acidity scrubbing the tongue. My main note is that this one does not drink much like a beer - but it is highly drinkable nevertheless.

O - I'll start by noting that this brew is pretty far from traditional beer. The closest experience is the Drekker fruit sours I sometimes enjoy, particularly on tap when I'm in Fargo. This one makes me want to seek out the broader range of Humble Forager, because this one was quite spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tasted in a Rastal Teku glass from a one pint can on August 2, 2020.

 

 

 

I rarely find a beer unattractive, but this approach to the style is challenging me on that.

It pours thick out of the can (sludge like) as a dull orange color with a thin bubbly light orange head. It looks like carrot juice. There are also medium-sized chunks of fruit. Some will argue this is a stylistic choice (smoothie beer), but it’s more of a train wreck and possibly poor technique in the style.

The smell is tropical, blast of citrus fruit and much more pleasant than it looks. Profile is mango, orange, Passionfruit. I don’t get much guava, but it’s likely hidden/blended in with the overall tropical nose.

The taste is dominated by mango and it tastes like a juice based cocktail. The acid and carbonation hits you after swallowing and calls back similarities to a mimosa. Citrus acid and pulpy. Very pulpy. It’s balanced to a point which is impressive considering the high juice content. I am still getting an orange flavor profile but I am worried that is because my brain thinks this is a mimosa. It became more acidic as It warmed and combine that with the acid of the juice, I couldn’t finish it. I’d rather just have a mimosa or tropical cocktail versus this approach.

Overall, this is a swing and miss for me style wise. It doesn’t hold to others in the category and is bordering on a beer cocktail in a can. It’s possible they are blazing their own trail and god bless them. Maybe this becomes a trend, but if this is their sour program, then I’ve seen all I need to see.

 

 

 

Can:
Up front, I'm trying to review to the intention of the brewer, but this beer has at least as much in common with fruit juice as it does beer to me.

Thick-looking, opaque burnt orange pour generates an orange head that bubbles up from below similar to a nitro-Guinness pour. However, instead of forming a creamy head, the released gas formed orange bubbles that grew into large soapy orbs that popped quickly. Seconds later I had a still-looking orange shake - even my morning OJ has more bubbles than this thing. Although I guess it's not too far off the mark for a smoothy beer, but it's actually kinda ugly. I feel

The nose follows the fruits, with mango leading the way and guava/passion fruit filling in. There is a little sour note from the passion fruit, but the fruit hides any "typical beer souring agent" - which the can does indicate is used. First sip is thick, but not quite as viscous as it appears or I expected. There is a tiny amount of carbonation that is just enough to prevent stickiness, though the beer coats the palate fairly well.

The passion fruit sneaks through the mango to grab my attention, though the base is once again the mango. The combination has produces a pseudo-tangerine note. The guava is nearly lost, sorta of sneaking in the back end. The sourness was nowhere near puckering, but I think helps keep the beer from being too juicy sweet. The carbonation and perhaps moderate alcohol level (6%) produce the impression of fruit moving beyond ripe and into fermentation, stage one.

This is a refreshing juice drink, but I'd go into it thinking mixed-drink more than beer. To me, it's a bit like a brunch mimosa with a little too much fresh orange pulp and not enough champagne. That said, there's a time and place where this "beer" can work for me.