Lafayette's Escape
General Lafayette Inn & Brewery

Second runnings aren't like getting a participant ribbon. The second go-around of the General's Marquis de Lafayette is much like its dad--fruity (banana, strawberry...starburst's orange, green, and yellow flavors), even like fruit soda. Although the ABV is sub three percent, this brew's bursting with flavor. The flavors are a big jumble of sweet fruits, malt, and wtf?. There's some nice stuff in the mix, but I would like some more focus. The flavors don't all mix well and play nicely together in the same sandbox.

It's unfiltered, so the mouthfeel is decently thick and the appearance is a purple/maroon haze. A lava lamp in a pint glass.

Not a Marquis de Lafayette second runnings beer, but an invention all its own...

Pours a murky plum color, with dirty highlights of amber. Head falls away fast. Unfiltered and unapologetic.

Aroma is glazed chestnuts (but not a dark enough flavor to be roasted), papaya, bananas foster, but all carried with a decidedly delicate touch. Fleeting.

Taste is bright, with hints of minerals and quinine, lemon zest, more papaya, and a clean, remarkably crisp finish. Never tannic, and incredibly bright. A huge splash of carbonic acid shows up at the swallow. Noble hops, before now muted, linger hard on the palate, overwhelming the rest of the finish. Begs for you to have another sip.

Mouthfeel belies the quickly fading head -- this is bright and sparkling, thin, but refreshing.

I could drink a growler full of this in a sitting. At 2.8%, I could do my yard work, my neighbor's yard work, and still have a weizen glass full to read the newspaper with.

Brilliant beer. Huge flavor, small alcohol , and so well put together. Carefully designed and expertly executed by Mr. Leonard.

If I had my way, this would be on tap every week from April through August. It'll be gone long before that however, so get your face in the place to try some -- now.