Two Roads & Industrial Arts Bloomerang NEIPA

I am a fan of Industrial Arts Brewing Company and I am a fan of Two Roads Brewing Company. Both make really nice New England-Style IPAs with both Wrench and Too Juicy respectively. So, I was excited to hear about their most recent collaboration, Bloomerang, a New England-Style IPA with hibiscus. When I mentioned last week that I left the bottle shop with fresh hops, the beer I was most excited to try was Bloomerang.

From the first pour, I loved what I saw. The hibiscus gave the hazy IPA a pinkish-hue that made it reminiscent of grapefruit juice. The aroma was floral with lemon, passion fruit, berries, melon, bready malt, and an herbal spiciness. What I liked here was how strong the presence of the hibiscus was. It gave Bloomerang a blast of lemon tartness. Even though this is a trait that hibiscus flowers add to the beer, it is very strong here. It overshadows the grapefruit, pine, melon, berry, bready flavors that play more as a compliment here to that tart lemon note, than shine on their own. The strength of the lemon goes right into the finish that is dry and herbal.

With so many variations of New England-Style IPAs, Bloomerang certainly breaks from the norm, providing a really interesting and creative take on the style. While I did enjoy it, one can of it goes a long way. After my glass was empty, I was ready to look for something else to drink. That might sound a bit harsh but this is a bold, tart take on a NEIPA. I really did enjoy it but it is by no means a sessionable beer. If you are looking for something different, it certainly delivers on that, I just do not see Bloomerang working for everyone.

Overall rating: 3.5/5


Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

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For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Last Call for Summer Beer

I seem to complain about this every year but I am not quite ready to drink Fall beer. They are already on shelves and I can't help but think it is way too soon for them, This past weekend the temperature was in the 90's and not once did I think 'man, I could really go for a refreshing pumpkin ale'. So I decided to take a trip to the bottle shop in full defiance mode, looking for light, fruit forward summer seasonals. I left with three fruit forward beers and a couple of fresh IPAs. The latter has no impact on this blog, I just wanted to admit I still could not pass up new hops. For this blog however, I wanted to blog about those three fruit forward beers and let you know whether or not they are worth taking up real estate in your refrigerator.

The first beer is Pineapple Cart from Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the brewery's "Cart" series based on LA's fruit cart vendors. I have not had any other entries in the series but after drinking half a can of Pineapple Cart, I don't think I need to. It is a mess of a beer. While it is a pineapple wheat ale, it is also brewed with strawberries and blood oranges. The latter has basically zero presence in the beer. The strawberry overpowers the pineapple in the nose and left me confused which fruit this beer was supposed to be based on. The heavy graininess of a wheat ale is also very noticeable in the nose. The flavor of the beer is a muddled mess. The pineapple hits up front, is followed by strawberry, lots of grain and a tart, dry, phenolic finish. The whole beer falls apart in the finish. I appreciate Golden Road trying to dial back the sweetness but the end result here is a mess.

Is it worth a purchase? Absolutely not.

Next up is Harpoon Brewery's Camp Wannamango, a mango infused pale ale. I had this beer in Boston for the first time about two years ago. I remember liking it but it got lost in the fold with all the other amazing beer I drank that week. Revisiting it, I realized I still liked it. It is a very easy to drink fruit forward beer that allows both the base beer and the fruit flavor to shine. The pale ale shines at first, with some caramel, toasted bread, passion fruit before the mango extract rushes in and then finishes with a light citrus, pine, herbal hop finish. My only complaint for this beer is the vegetal flavor towards the finish that is not ideal but does not ruin the beer either. This is an easy drinking beach beer and I see it returning to my refrigerator before the summer is out.

Is it worth a purchase? Yes

And last but not least is Victory Brewing's Limey Gose. When I went into the bottle shop, I had every intention of finding a citrus forward gose. When I saw Victory's latest gose, I knew I had to purchase it for two reasons. One, I love Victory's Kirsch Gose. Two, I wanted to see how it compared to my beloved Key Lime Pie Gose from Westbrook. Before I opened the bottle I will admit I had high hopes for this beer and they were rewarded. It is very tart and very refreshing. The lime flavor is strong and hits aggressively, followed by bread dough, a touch of lemon, lactic sourness, green apple and a saline finish. The flavors do not mesh as well as they do in Westbrook's version but they work really well here. It is very effervescent and very refreshing. I know goses are not for everyone, but if you are going to give one a try, this and Victory's Kirsch Gose are a nice place to start.

Is it worth a purchase? Absolutely

While August usually functions as a "last call" of sorts for the summer seasonals, there is still plenty of summer left and still plenty of great warm weather beer on the shelf. That being said, I don't blame anyone who makes the early shift to fall beer. It is easily my favorite beer drinking season. However at this moment, I am just not ready to say goodbye to beer's most refreshing season. Cheers!


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For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte! 

Lagunitas Super Cluster & Cherry Jane

One thing I love about Lagunitas Brewing Company is their reasonable prices. As someone who is currently trying to furnish a home, I am looking for values in any place I can find them, especially when it comes to purchasing beer. As hard as it is for me to admit, I find it difficult to justify purchasing several 15-20 dollar 4-packs while sitting on one of two chairs in an otherwise empty living room watching television. If I was in college, I could easily justify this but it gets a failing grade when it comes to adulting. For this blog, I am not so much reviewing beer but offering two great options at more reasonable prices.

I came across Lagunitas' Super Cluster DIPA and stopped in my tracks. Super Cluster is an 8% Citra-Hopped DIPA, priced under 20 dollars for a 12-pack. Without even trying it, that price alone felt like a steal and I could not wait to get home and give it a try. What I found when I did was an excellent West Coast DIPA that is bursting with citrus & pine resin. The first sip does not disappoint, delivering a healthy dose of bright, citrus flavors. Orange, grapefruit, passion fruit and a touch of lemongrass come through at first before a piney, herbal finish. The 8% ABV is hidden fairly well, making this even easier to drink. Super Cluster is beautifully crafted and a steal at its price point.

Another solid offering from Lagunitas is their cherry sour ale, Cherry Jane. The price point for Cherry Jane is around 13 dollars a six-pack which is a touch more than I was looking to spend but I could not resist a beer brewed with Turkish Delight Cherry Juice & Brettanomyces. The Brett delivers just the right amount of funk to the dominating flavor of tart cherry juice. The sourness is not particularly aggressive, it plays as more of a compliment to the cherry juice. I, in particular love tart cherry juice so this beer definitely worked for me.

Both of these beers are solid offerings from Lagunitas. I would highly encourage you to pick up Super Cluster in particular. It is easily one of the best values I have come across in beer that did not have the name "Genesee" on it.



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Thanks for reading. Sláinte! 

Founders Barrel Runner

I am a bit obsessed with the Founders Barrel Aged Series. If you have been following this blog, you already know that. I love writing about each new release for two reasons. The first being that the beer is usually great. The second being that you can clearly tell the brewers at Founders are having fun pushing the limits of creativity with this program. Dank Wood, the previous release in the series took an underrated style of beer(Red IPA) and added a whole new layer of complexity to it with the barrel aging. When I first heard about Barrel Runner, the latest release in the series, I was intrigued but disappointed. I was disappointed only because I wanted to see a different style outside of an IPA go into a barrel. However, I was intrigued because the tropical fruitiness of a mosaic hopped ale seemed like a perfect compliment for a rum barrel. It had potential to deliver a fruity, strong, summer-like cocktail take on a beer. I became further intrigued when I saw the early reception was very polarizing, much like my favorite release in the series DKML. I had no idea which side of the fence I would be on for this one, but I had confidence that if any brewery could pull a beer like this off, it would be Founders.

For Dank Wood, the previous release in the series, the barrel presence was a bit more dialed back. It acted as a compliment to the bold flavor of the Imperial Red IPA. When it comes to Barrel Runner, things are much different. The dominating aroma of rum was noticeable while standing a few feet away from the glass. There were hints of caramel malt, coconut, pine resin, grapefruit, and vanilla, but the stars of the show here are rum, oak and pineapple. The first sip and every sip after that is very sweet & very boozy. The fruitiness(pineapple, mango, papaya, tangerine, berries) tries to shine initially, along with a healthy dose of pine and caramel but is immediately overshadowed by rum, vanilla, oak spice, coconut, and booze(lots of booze). I like rum, so I liked this beer. It reminded me of the tropical drinks I had on my honeymoon, as well as the low-proof fruity rums I sampled irresponsibly when I was younger. This might sound silly but Barrel Runner tastes like a hangover to me. It reminds me of mixing way too many sugary drinks and spending the next day in bed. I purchased a 4-pack of Barrel Runner and found it impossible to open a second one in a single sitting. 

One thing that would have made this beer better would have been a bit of balance. The barrel is clearly all that is showcased here while more balance between the fruity, syrupy sweet IPA & the rum barrel would have greatly improved my thoughts on this beer. Put it this way, if you like your Rum & Cokes with just a splash of Coke, this beer is for you. If rum hangovers do not bother you, this beer is for you. If you don’t like rum at all, spend your 15+ dollars elsewhere.

Overall rating: 3/5

Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

To discuss this blog or all things beer like my Facebook page

Look for me on Instagram & Untappd and Twitter @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Captain Lawrence Galactic Fog NEIPA

For several years, I was fairly indifferent about beers from Captain Lawrence Brewing Company. While I have always been open to trying their offerings, I had yet to find one that merited a repeat purchase outside of their Frost Monster Imperial Stout. I just felt that their beer was good enough to not disappoint if you purchased it but not good enough to make you want to buy the same beer again with so many other options available.

The moment my opinion on Captain Lawrence changed came by accident. I sent my wife a screen grab of a Facebook post and asked her if she could pick up the beer in the photo. The problem was, there were actually two different beers in the photo. I was not quick enough with my reply on which specific beer I wanted, so she bought both(she’s awesome). The Captain Lawrence beer she purchased was the Citra Dry Hopped version of Orbital IPA. Later that night, I gave it a try and loved it. It was finally a beer from Captain Lawrence not named Frost Monster that I wanted to purchase again. When they released the Mosiac Dry Hopped version of Orbital Tilt, I found what I thought to be one of the best session IPAs on the market. The tropical fruitiness of the mosaic hops harmoniously blended with the pilsner malt backbone and created a beer I found it impossible to have just one of.

With the success of both versions of Orbital Tilt, I began to branch out and start trying more of their hoppy offerings. I fell in love with Tears of Green & the Powder Dreams series. Each of them came with a higher price tag but delivered a fabulous drinking experience. Their latest Orbital Tilt(Galaxy Dry Hopped) may have been the weakest in the series but it was still fantastic. With all this good will towards Captain Lawrence, I found myself rushing to try their latest hoppy offering, Galactic Fog IPA.

Double Dry Hopped with Galaxy Hops, Galactic Fog is a New England Style Double IPA with 8.5% ABV. The fruitiness of the Galaxy Hops is front and center here. The aromas of passion fruit, pineapple, peach, tangerine, and lime jump out of the glass. The first sip was very much like the nose, loads of fruit up front. Much like the Mosaic Dry Hopped Orbital Tilt IPA I mentioned earlier, the fruitiness of the galaxy hops here pair nicely with the malt backbone, which is light but adds a nice bit of pilsner-like breadiness. After the bold hit of fruit, a subtle cool mintiness comes in before a spicy, herbal finish.

There is a lot to like here but one thing that I found myself not enjoying was the syrupy sweetness that began to get to me at the halfway mark. It by no means ruined the experience of drinking Galactic Fog for me but one can feels like more than enough. That is the difference here between the
Tears of Green, Powder Dreams & Orbital Tilt(Did I tell you I love Orbital Tilt?) series. For those beers I would have wanted to go back to the refrigerator for another can. Then again, perhaps it is a good thing it is one and done for Galactic Fog. Either way, this beer is another winner for the Elmsford, NY brewery. Trust me when I tell you, do not sleep on Captain Lawrence, they are making some fantastic hoppy beers. Their sours are really solid too, but I will save my thoughts on those for another blog.

Overall rating: 4/5


Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

To discuss this blog or all things beer like my Facebook page

Look for me on Instagram & Untappd and Twitter @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Westbrook Lemon Cucumber Gose

I love Westbrook Key Lime Pie Gose. Whenever I come across it, I pick up a 4-pack. It's practically automatic at this point. If the beer did not sell out so fast it would be a regular staple in my refrigerator. I also love the base beer Westbrook Gose. I buy that with less frequency but enjoy it every single time I have it. When I heard Westbrook was releasing a new Lemon Cucumber Gose variant, I could not wait to give them my money. Lemon cucumber water is super refreshing and Westbrook Goses are absolutely fantastic. I could not help but think that this right here might be the perfect summer beer combination.

As I poured the beautifully hazy, golden liquid in a glass I found myself pondering whether or not it was going to be better than the Key Lime Pie Gose. I thought it had a 50-50 chance to top it. That was, until I took in the aroma and realized it would come nowhere near the Key Lime Pie Gose variant. The first thing that jumped out to me was the tart lemon, it seemed to pop out of the glass. I then noticed a touch of refreshing cucumber underneath it. After that, all I noticed in the aroma was a strong note of pickles. I found this strange and intriguing, but was not sure it was something I was going to enjoy.

Like the Westbrook Gose & the Key Lime Pie variant, the sourness of the first sip aggressively hits the palate. The lemon is the star of this beer and comes out swinging right away. Paired with the lactic sourness of the base beer, they provide a 1-2 punch right to the kisser. As the aggressiveness of the tartness began to subside the further I got into the glass the cucumber started to come through. It was met with sea salt, coriander and a touch of vinegar which really brought out the pickle flavor. All of these flavors worked surprisingly well together. Unfortunately, for me, this is a “one-and-done” kind of situation. Due to the style of beer, this outcome should have appeared obvious and I admit I feel a bit foolish that I did not see it coming.

If you are a fan of sour beer & pickles, I could see you really enjoying this beer. If you are a fan of neither, then I would avoid this at all costs. I had high hopes for this one and I am still glad I tried it. Unfortunately, it pales in comparison to the base beer or my beloved Key Lime Pie variant.

2.75/5


Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

To discuss this blog or all things beer like my Facebook page

Look for me on Instagram & Untappd and Twitter @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Bells Sparkleberry & 30th Anniversary Cherry Stout Reserve

Usually when I see a new release from Bell's Brewery, I have to try it. Bell's is just one of those breweries you can usually count on to deliver a well-crafted drinking experience. Recently, they released two beers that captured my attention, Sparkleberry & 30th Anniversary Reserve Cherry Stout.

Sparkleberry is not a new beer but 2018 marks its debut in cans. It was first brewed in 2013 to celebrate Bells’ Sponsorship of Kalamazoo Pride. Over the years, Sparkleberry would occasionally make its way to NY but I kept missing my chance to try it. So as you can imagine, I was particularly excited to give this one a long overdue try. The idea of a Belgian-Style Tripel Ale brewed with Raspberries sounded delicious to me. I also liked the fact that the ABV(8.3%) is true to the style by being on the stronger side. The ABV, the style of beer, and the raspberries made this sound like the perfect summer sipper. As I opened the can, I just hoped I was right.

Sparkleberry was a bit of an unexpected drinking experience. I expected the raspberries to dominate the flavor but I also expected them to be much sweeter than they were. The raspberries were initially sweet but some lemon tartness shows up, followed by the flavors you would expect from a tripel, namely clove, pepper spice and banana. The finish is very dry, almost wine like and the 8.3% ABV adds a bit of astringency. Unfortunately, there also appeared to be a hint of nail polish remover as well in it. I really wanted to like this beer but was thrilled I shared the can after the first sip. The fruit flavoring did not blend as seamlessly as I expected with the base beer. It is not bad, but not a beer I would look to purchase again.

Overall rating: 2.5/5

I thought I was done blogging about stouts for a while but the 30th Anniversary Cherry Stout Reserve gave me a reason to do a quick review just in case. The beer is dark chocolate-covered cherries in a glass. The cherries are tart and balance the sweetness of the chocolate nicely. There is a touch of smoke along with a woody, spicy finish. The 9% ABV is fairly well hidden which was nice. The cherry and the dark chocolate were bold enough however to dominate mostly everything here. I enjoyed drinking this beer but I wanted it to have a little more complexity. Then again, it delivered exactly what it promised. It was also a much more pleasant experience than the last time I purchased the Bells Cherry Stout. That beer was so metallic I thought I was drinking T-1000 in a glass(hope that reference wasn't too dated). This one is decadent and delicious. If this dessert in a glass sounds appealing to you, I recommend picking it up.

Overall rating: 3.75/5




Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

To discuss this blog or all things beer like my Facebook page

Look for me on Instagram & Untappd and Twitter @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!