Hempen Ale
Wild Goose Brewery, LLC

 

 

 

 

Think wet rope. This beer is very nice, although I fear that my last bottle has become irreplaceable. The appearance is nice, not a standout but a very surprising novelty, of sorts. So is the taste. I doubt that I could drink this all night, but it's a very nice beer when you're ready for a curve.

Cellared 4 years. Like most of the aged beers I've been enjoying, this one opened with a dark, syrupy smell. Pours a very dark brown body, with a few tiny particles of stirred up sediment, under a thin, clingy head. Nice molasses malt flavor with a café note. I could catch the herbal spiciness of the hemp more than I could any hoppiness, possibly because of its age. There's also a nice alcohol warmth that slowly insinuates itself.

I notice the link for Frederick Brewing is no longer active. Anyone know if they're still in business?

Any beer like this must overcome the automatic "gimmick beer" badge. This beer makes an admirable run at legitimacy, but falls a little short. Probably closest to a brown ale, it has some caramel notes and a vague nuttyness. Fair, at best.

Appearance: Is deep murky brown with a thin cream head sporatic patches of lace nothing too impressive here. Aroma: The hemp imparts mellow herbabl tone this dark ale has some pleasant toasted malts with a very faint hop aroma. Flavor: Has a slight weird bready characteristic to it along with the toasted malts smooth and creamy not bad. Mouthfeel: Is medium in body with a creamy texture. Drinkability: Is decent but I think this beer is past it's prime, overall decent brown ale with a hemp twist to it.

Dark Brown Color, Medium Head. Roasted Malts, lightly hopped. Full complex taste "Brown Ale with a twist "brewed with the seeds of the hemp plant added. Did not notice any 'mellow herbal flavor'. Finish is clean, aftertaste is slightly bitter; malt sweetness shines through in the aftertaste.

Unlike the other review of this beer, I didn't detect missing hops so much as the hemp actually balanced the malt taste pretty nicely. The mouthfeel and taste of this beer is really good and it does have a slight nutiness that I figure is a function of its seed mix in the brew, rather than hemp per se. Pretty drinkable.