Michigantuan
Short's Brewing Company

 

 

Poured from bottle to tulip glass. Garnet in color with a few fingers of fluffy off-white head. Aromas predominantly of tart cherry juice and floral hops, with citrus - orange, lemon, - and biscuit malt in the mix. Hits the tounge with a nice, tart cherry bite tgat transitions to citrus/tropical notes, balanced with biscuity, caramel sweetness before finishing with a bitter piney slap. This one is more DIPA with cherry than cherry DIPA, if you get the drift. Very nice, well balanced and even enjoyed by friends who normally wouldn't touch an IPA.

 

A - Dark body, clear, copper-red, with a off-white head, short and quick to fade. Minimal lacing. Pretty.

S - Hops primarily. Pine and sharp fruit, sour cherry notes. A bit of limestone.

T - Strong hit of sourness. Cherry notes. Mild bitterness in the close, along with minerality.

M - Brisk. Slightly dry in the close.

O - Nicely designed hop and fruit mix. Solid.

 

 

 

12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 6/15/2017. Pours fairly crystal clear reddish orange/amber color with a 2 finger fairly dense and fluffy light pink head with awesome retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice thick soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of tart/tangy cherries, grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, apricot, mango, lemon zest, orange peel, pine, light caramel, toasted bread, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of citrus/fruity/pine hops, cherries, and moderate bready malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of big tart/tangy cherries, grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, apricot, mango, lemon zest, orange peel, pine, light caramel, toasted bread, herbal, floral, grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine/citrus rind/grassy bitterness and tangy cherry tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of tart/tangy cherries, grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, apricot, mango, lemon/orange peel, pine, light caramel, toasted bread, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/pine hops, cherries, and moderate bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitter/tartness balance, and zero astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate dryness from bitter/tartness, increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, moderately bready/grainy/sticky, fairly tangy/tannic, and lightly resinous balanced mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 8.8%. Overall this is a delicious fruited DIPA. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/pine hops, cherries, and moderate bready malt flavors; very smooth and easy to drink for the ABV. Spot on balance between fruit and hops; with a nice malt backbone. Never too sweet or heavy, with no syrupy fruit character. Never overly aggressively bitter or drying. A very enjoyable offering.

I picked up a six pack of Short's Michigantuan at Meijers. This one seems pretty interesting to me and I'm curious to see how the cherries will work with the DIPA base, so lets see how it goes. 2017 Vintage. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a stemless Shorts glass.

A- The label is decent, it's a little cheesy looking and it's a little eye catching. It poured an orange and red color that didn't change when held to the light and it had almost two fingers of creamy off white head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left some nice rings of patchy lacing behind. This is a good looking beer, I have no complaints.

S- The aroma starts off with a higher amount of sweetness with the a nice fruity aroma being the first to show up and it starts with cherries which are nice and noticeable, but not to overpowering and they flow into the fruit hops which are followed by a little bit of floral and light green hop aromas. Up next comes a little bit of doughy yeast that leads into the ,alts which show up just enough and impart some toasted malt, caramel malt, bread crust and light biscuit like aroma. This beer has a good aroma, the cherry shows up just enough and the DIPA base is true to style and balanced.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma, but just slightly lighter and it starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium bitterness with those fruity aspects still being the first to show and the cherries are just slightly lighter, but they retain those nice cherry juice aspects and it goes into the hops which impart some citrus, light floral and light green hop flavors. Up next comes a slight bit of doughy yeast with an equally light amount of alcohol and it's followed by the malts which are just a little lighter than they were in the aroma, but they impart all the same aspects. On the finish there's a slightly higher amount of medium bitterness with a fruity, hoppy and lightly malty aftertaste. This is a pretty nice tasting beer, but I wish the taste was a little more like the aroma and a little more juicer.

M- Fairly smooth, a little refreshing, slightly crisp, fairly creamy, on the thicker side of being medium bodied with a lower amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel was good and it worked well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a pretty nice beer and I thought it was a nice example of the style, the DIPA base was pretty solid and standard for the shorts and the cherries came through just enough to make this beer a little unique. This beer had nice drinkability, I could drink a couple, but I think that would be my limit. What I like the most about this beer is the appearance and aroma, to me those were the highlights of this beer. What I like the least about this beer is that the taste wasn't a little more like the aroma. I would buy this beer again if they make it again, but I don't think it's something that I would have to stock up on. I would recommend trying this beer if your looking for a nice DIPA with some noticeable cherry flavors. All in all I enjoyed this beer, I think there is still a little room for improvement, but as it stands now it's nice and it's a little on the unique side. It's not a favorite Short's beer and it's a nice example of the style. Good job Shorts, this is a nice and unique beer, keep it up.

12 fl. oz bottle
Served in a tulip glass

It appears to have a rosy hue when poured. Once held to the light it is more of a ruddy amber with burnt orange highlights. It is capped with an inch of tan head that leaves lacing rings as consumed.

The aroma is cherry juice, citrus, and with hints of pine.

The citrus hits my palate first. Then the cherry comes through the middle with a bitter pine finish. Cherry reappears in the aftertaste and lingers a bit.

Medium mouthfeel

This is my first cherry IPA. It is not bad. I think the cherry would have melded better with a juicier IPA, but this beer is all about Michigan ingredients, and I applaud that. The bitterness and cherry contrasted somewhat. I enjoyed it but feel it could be tweaked to be a magnificent beer. I hope it stays in the rotation.

 

 

Brief Review:

O: Very good beer. Not super abrasive for a DIPA, and the cherry comes through with a nice balancing tartness/sweetness. Prefer this over a lot of the recent PW offerings through the fish series, plus they've never done cherry. This is a perfect Michigan summer beer, especially if you're up north over the 4th and can go to the Cherry Festival!

Recommendation: Get it while it's fresh!

 

 

 

 

 

Pours deep red. Foamy, medium, white head that lasts a while with lacing.

Smells caramel malt, pine, citrus, candied fruit and light cherry.

Tastes tart cherry, citrus peel and pine followed by pine and light bready malt, pepper, but mostly quite bitter. Finish is dry with a piney linger medium body and fizzy medium carbonation.