Blipstream
Tonewood Brewing - Barrington

16-ounce can courtesy of Tonewood's #1 advocate, the generous jonphisher. Date stamp is unreadable. Enjoyed in a nonic half-pint glass.

Look:
The body is a cloudy amber-gold that lands somewhere between filtered and unfiltered apple juice. There's a thin head of off-white foam on top that leaves impressive lacing.

Smell:
The nose is delicate, but tempting: bready malt, honey, a mild orange peel note, a tea-like floral character, and a hint of English ale yeast. I also get a trace of sulfur when I sniff the can that isn't there when I sniff the glass.

Taste:
The flavor has a bit more heft to it than the nose. The malt is more biscuity than bready, and the hops finish each sip with a balancing floral bitterness and a pinch of spice. Zesty! Subtle notes of honey, apple skin, dried herbs, and black tea play nicely with the malty base. There's also a faint citrus character underneath.

Feel:
The body is more than light and less than medium, with an appealing soft texture and gentle carbonation. Superb drinkability. Probably the best attempt at cask beer texture I've ever had from a can. Delightful.

Overall:
This is another splendid English-style ale from Tonewood. The flavor is restrained but satisfying, with a balance of malt and bitterness that is the very embodiment of the word "moreish."

Love session, British-style, pub ales. Low abv(this one 4.5), low IBU’s, and malty goodness. I remember Whitbread/Robinson’s/Boddington’s/et al pub ales, as a young man. Those were my introductions to session, pub ales. This Blipstream by Tonewood, is a pleasant surprise, in a sea of ipa’s/seltzers. Awesome drinking, but not much on the aroma. Has a typical white bread/sourdough aroma. There is sediment at the bottom of the can. Has an almost ice tea/lemonade color. Drinks like ice tea. Nothing will stop the crushable quality of a solid pub ale. This one, is no different. It’s like conversing over liquid bread…literally.

 

Poured murky dark amber with a nice little manilla colored head that left sheets of lacing.
The aroma was mostly lost on my damaged nose, but I did get a little biscuit.
The taste was a very pleasant balance of bready malts and almost floral hops. The bitterness was restrained but still present.
The feel was ideal, especially considering the appearance. Very nice quaffing beer.
This one was sent to me by @jonfisher who seems to be a Tonewood evangelist, and good reason. This is a very good beer.

 

2022-12-28
16oz can served in a nonic pint. Dated 11/16/22. Sent to me by @jonphisher.

Pours a cloudy light brown with a medium sized dense head, a fair amount of active carbonation. Smell is nutty, toasty, little bit of a dark yeasty bread vibe.

Taste is right along those same lines, with a little bit of a vague citrus pith or maybe cut grass. Nutty/toastiness comes across more as bitterness here.

Mouthfeel is fairly full for a lower alcohol beer, but carbonation and bitterness keep it pleasant. This is a really nice beer.

Pours a cloudy, ruddy light brown with ample head that sticks around a while. Moderate lacing.

Light sweet malts jump out up front. Bready. A hint of honey sweetness sits in behind with a floral hop note.

Taste follows. Lightly sweet brown bread, a touch of honey and muted floral/herbal hoppy finish.

Medium mouth with a smooth silky character.

This was great Jon. Right up my alley. I’d imagine this is even better in cask. Cheers!

Pint glass from the cask at the Oaklyn brewery. A solid, pale best bitter. The brewery states that they use "Maris Otter & Noble hops." I got hints of Northwest hops.

Thanks to Jonphisher for this one. 16oz can (dated 10/20/21) poured into 14oz teku. Poured a very cloudy, almost muddy, medium brown color with an inch of light khaki head that moderate-good retention and extremely light lacing.

The aroma was mostly lightly sweet malts, with some biscuit and caramel, and just a hint of floral hops.

Very similar on the tongue, earthy malts with some floral and very light spice notes.

The body was medium, smooth, even, and had a medium-sweet finish.

Drinkability was very good, definitely a brew you could session at the pub.

Overall, a pretty nice take on the style. if you're looking for a nice, easy drinking British style ale, grab a pint of this.

This beer is a very cloudy dark honey color, it looks very nice when held up to light. It poured very vigorously with big quick popping bubbles. A nice fluffy offwhite head remains, this may be in part to the etched bottom of my glass. This head is very cohesive but does show some minor lacing about half way through the glass

First smell is fresh baked bread, black tea, floral honey, marmalade, damp forest and toasted biscuits.

Taste very much follows the nose on this beer; honey drizzled biscuits, tea, earthy leafy hops finish it off.

Pleasant mouthfeel, light bodied but full, soft carbonation, smooth, light bitterness, lightly drying; highly drinkable.

 

Hazy orangish brownish. Khaki head. Smells of sharp unidentifiable citrus rind that’s most just a sharp musk. Bergamot. Taste is fresh bread. Green hop tang maybe a bit much for the style. Earth. Dirt. Earl grey. Orange rind essence. Pretty unique. Tiny carb bubbles but prickly. Strong yeast profile. A lot of must. Fairly dry. Frankincense type. I like this but glad I only got one and much better as it warms

 

(16 oz pour via hand pump at the brewery - had a glass of both the standard and the Earl Grey-infused version; this review focuses on the former... website shows 4.8% abv, while the draft board at the brewery showed 4.6%)

Amber liquid, mild haze, with a wonderfully dense, creamy, off-white foam pad atop... aromas of nutty yeast, golden crust of fresh-baked multigrain bread; subtle hints of green herbs, dried flowers, dried citrus peel... delicately fruity and grassy hops and their back-end lightly rigid bitter bit in lovely balance with softly bready and very subtly caramelly malt... the smooth infusion of sheets of tiny bubbles blended together the flavors rather well, like a beer smoothie... lovely light bitter that was perhaps served a bit too cold, however, its balance was fantastic - do hope they keep this in regular (seasonal) rotation... to note: the Earl Grey in the alternate version was too subtle, not nearly enough nuance to give it any distinction, but it was equally as enjoyable as its base counterpart

EDIT: had it again on reg. draft 14 Aug 2019; taste more or less consistent with prior sampling; thumbs up!