Outside In
Highland Park Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

Straight pour from a 16oz can to a tall, narrow pint (Green Cheek nucleated flute). This was, according to a small paper tag on the four-pack holder, canned on May 4, 2016, which would make this beer 12 days old at the time of consumption. It’s been refrigerated since picking it up at the brewery. Psyched!

Appearance (3.5): This pours out a good three fingers of crackly, custard-colored foam capping a hazy, deep tan body. The head dies down at an odd, variable pace, but it subsides eventually to a thin film on the surface of the beer and a few, widely arcing, leggy collars of foam. Decent head, but the drab color and mediocre retention take a way from it a bit.

Smell (4.25): Out of the glass, you get passionfruit juice, lemon curd, orange zest, and a nice floral note that feels light and fresh. As it opens up a bit, the aroma comes across more like sauvignon blanc and very subtle grassy note, maybe gooseberry? This, I could definitely get used to. Not sure I’m getting any malt or grain to speak of, but holy nuts that sauv blanc note is wonderful with the beer being as fragrant as it is.

Taste (4.5): Whoaaaa, this is popping off in a weird (great) way. You get that weird, almost cheesy character from super ripe, funky passionfruit flesh, mixed with a strong floral flavor, subtle lemonade, and a nice hit of half-grassy, half-citrus pithy bitterness on the back end. The palate is dripping with oodles of that weird, funky passionfruit character. There’s some malt in here, too, in the form of toasted pain de campagne, whole wheat biscuits, and a touch of doughy dumplings. Surprisingly, there’s no sign of booze in here whatsoever—despite the 8% ABV. I really like the way this opens up into a full-bodied passionfruit funk blended with floral, grassy flavors. As it opens up, the palate does an interesting backflip and in the right light becomes a white wine-dominated display of flavors, like a mixture of sauvignon blanc and the more mineral-inflected character of pinot grigio.

Mouthfeel (3.75): Here, the body is underwhelming. It’s appropriately medium-weight, and not at all starchy or syrupy—it’s right in the middle—but it ends up feeling a little bit watery, weirdly, due to carbonation that has almost no presence at first, but foams up modestly (albeit evenly and very finely) on the back end, just before washing out. It’s an easy drink, but doesn’t beg for the next sip the way the best ones do.

Overall (4.0): This is a very good, but in some ways very uneven beer. The low carb and somewhat watery feel accentuate the lack of coherent bitterness, but at the same time encourage the weirdness characteristic of some passionfruit to come forward. As I noted above, the flavor transforms into an interesting blend of white wine-forward flavors. Still, though, I enjoyed drinking it quite a bit. Something tells me this would have been better on tap. Try it, if you’re curious.