DAB Lab: Desert High
Block 15 Brewing - Southtown Tap Room

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a hazy yellowish gold, looking much like pineapple juice, with a fine, two finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, pineapple, grapefruit, lemon and a little light stone fruit. Flavor is pale malt, citrus, piney and tropical fruit hops, orange, pineapple, grapefruit, pine, a bit of dankness and light mixed tropical fruit. Moderate bitterness that still leaves a lingering resinous pine note. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Once again, this new entry to the Dab series pours heavily hazy, but manages to have a decent amount of hop bitterness. Hop flavors are all over the place with light typical hazy IPA tropical fruit, but also West Coast leaning citrus and pine, with some dankness thrown in for good measure. Busy, but still hangs together nicely and leaves a quite pleasant bitter and herbal aftertaste. Not sure about the desert character, but tastes great.

Can Date: 8/11/21
Palate Contaminants: other beer

Dark straw color. Opaque. Lots of very fine white head that hangs around for a while.

Nice pineapple scent, but anything else is really subdued.

Good fruit flavors, orange, pineapple, and banana (good). I halfway get a lactic element, and it's savory. Lots of moss. The intensity in all the flavors is really good. Very light bitterness.

Weight is heavy for the type, and it helps the flavors come out really nicely. Aftertaste is malt and bitter moss, with a little bit of residual fruit smoothie. Alcohol is really well hidden.

I know I'm not putting as many words to this as normal, but it's straightforward and good.

 

 

Can from ABV. 08/11/2021

A super hazy orange with a dense off-white head with excellent retention and lacing this looks great. The nose is intriguing. Essential oil of grapefruit, citrus, mango, peach and a touch of vanilla, some grape, a mild dank character. While the fruits expressed in the nose are common, the way they are here is unique. Oily, but not in a resiny way, perfumey but not in a floral way, it's just... unique. The palate opens with dank weed and dank fruit with a touch of vanilla and lime present. Orange, grapefruit, green grape, melon, peach, mango are present, along with a light hop burn. While that's something I typically detest, there's so much else to like here that I have to give it a pass. Drying, fruity on the finish with a light malt character. Quite excellent.

Nothing about this beer blows your socks off, but the complexity and balance are quite nice. Lots of depth of hop flavors and aromas, but nothing in in your face. Very tropical, with underlying dankness and white grapes. Slightly drying on the finish. ABV might be a bit high for a lake/river beer, but the flavors are just right for a bright sunny day in a forest.