New Beer Friday 5/15/20

Most of Craft Beer Week will culminate this weekend with a few brand new releases that cover the gambit of flavors and styles. These are the highlights of what you can expect. Have an excellent New beer Friday.

Epic - CBD Free IPA: This is hitting later this morning in growlers and next week in bottles. I hear it quite tasty. 6.8% - Available at Epic.

Kiitos - Cucumber Tart: The aroma is big with cucumber with hint of yogurt tartness. The flavor is thankfully more subdued. The cucumber is fresh tasting and it works well with the medium amount of lemony tartness in the base beer. It's pretty straight forward and refreshing. 5.0% - Available starting tomorrow (5/16) at Kiitos.

Kiitos - Rye Cream Ale: Nice sweetness in the nose. The rye is in the back but definitely there. The cream ale is up front, allowing the rye to work the the end of the ale. Very subtle at first then it just keeps building leaving this long rye finish. Tasty. 5.0% - Available starting tomorrow (5/16) at Kiitos.

Shades - Hogshead Reserve 2020: This a complex beer. It's a milk porter made with maple and bacon and aged in Wyoming Bourbon barrels for two years. It's sweet for sure. Lots of maple cake, smoke and hints if mint up front. Dark fruits begin to emerge next with a minor prune twang in the finish. As it warms the maple becomes more pronounced as it battles with the whiskey over dominance. Not for the timid. 9.0% - Available at Shades now.

Saltfire - Mobius Trip (Fate Bell): This beer was made to celebrate Saltfire's second anniversary. This is a sour ale like the other Mobius Trip releases. This one is in Sotol barrels from Texas. If you're not familiar; Sotol is kin to tequila and mezcal, that shares many of the characteristics of agave but it's far from that. It has a very earthy tequila profile, which comes through well in the beer. The beginning is tart and earthy with some granny smith peel. Next comes notes of pineapple and salt. The finish is oaky with puckering lemon. This is super complex and very intriguing. Never had anything like this. It's well worth your time if you like tequila flavors and sour beers. 7.1% - Available starting tomorrow (5/16) at Saltfire.  

Fisher - Bailout Pale Ale: It smells of grainy and doughy caramel malt, muddled tropical fruit notes. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, a touch of biscuit, some guava, pineapple, and mango. Some understated leafy, soapy, and musky floral verdant hoppiness. Tasty stuff. 5.0% - Available now at Fisher.

Fisher Dukes of Haze: Pours a hazy golden yellow color with streaking white lacing. Taste and smell are topical with citrus and papaya notes very floral and juicy. Mouth feel is soft with minimal bitterness. A well don NE Style Pale Ale.

Talisman Juicy IPA: I hate missing out on the Ogden stuff. There's so much good beer up there that I just don't have time to check out. If you have a sharp palate and like to nerd-out on local suds like me, hit me up for a Northern Utah correspondent gig. This NEIPA is loaded with Citra and Mosaic hops and dials in at 8.1% - Available starting today at noon. One crowler per customer.

New Belgium - VooDoo Ranger 1985: Missed this one. 6.8% - Available at DABC.

Returning

2 Row - Juice Bomb-OMB: If you missed this one from March of 2019 or just flat-out don't remember it, you're in luck. Citrus aroma - tropical, orange, mango, perhaps a touch of pine.  Good malt presence transitions to the citrus promised with the aroma. Initial taste is mild - no bittering at all. Moderately juicy - citrus, perhaps orange, pineapple. Certainly tropical. Certainly juicy, but not overbearingly so. Well balanced. Finish is slightly sweet, with no bitterness in the finish or aftertaste. On the high side of very good.

Cheers!