Welcome back Steemians to Week 5 of the Friday Craft Brew Series! I wasn't able to make it to a new brewery this week, but had several new craft brews throughout the week. This time I ventured out of only picking local beers in the hopes that a couple of these will be available near you!
First up today Stone Tangerine Express IPA, a 6.7% beer. I am a huge fan of Stone Brewing, literally every time I come across their Enjoy By I buy it...every time. So, you can understand the excitement I had for this Tangerine Express when I saw it available. The description on this beer alone would be enough to have any IPA lover drooling. Just listen to this...
This ain’t no just-add-juice approach. This one is for adults. We use bountiful whole tangerine purée, which brings pithy, crisp bitterness to the citrus flavor.
If that doesn't scream IPA I want to drink, I don't know what does.
Upon pouring, the beer there has a small foamy head that dissipates quickly. There isn't much citrus smell initially, but oh boy can you smell the hops!
The first taste gave me a light flavor that built quickly. You first start with the obvious taste of tangerine, very obvious, that transitions to a strong, bitter hop flavor that any IPA drinker would love. The flavor lasts a medium amount of time, just the right amount to pull you back in for more.
This is a fantastic beer. It delivers exactly what you would expect from something called Tangerine Express, without having too much of a strong citrus flavor. I will be coming back to this beer time and time again I am sure!
Next up, Salty Lemons by Paradox Beer Company, a 7.9% Sour Golden Ale. This is the first beer I have ever had from Paradox, but after trying this one and looking into the brewery, I'll be keeping my eye out for more! Every beer they produce is barrel aged and bottle conditioned. These are some rare beers they are pumping out, focusing on Sour, Feral, and Wild Ales. I have never even heard of a Feral Ale, so you know these guys are on the cutting edge.
Enough about the brewery...this beer is fantastic. You can tell it is made by some people that really know what they are doing.
Upon pouring, the beer has a small, frothy head. You can tell immediately from the smell that this is a sour, but it is just the right amount, not an over powering sour smell. You can also smell the lemon.
The beer has a lemon sour taste, almost like an unsweetened lemonade mixed with beer. I didn't get much saltiness, which for me was perfect. This is a super crisp and refreshing beer. The flavor you get doesn't last long, which is good in my opinion for a sour, some times they can leave a tart taste in your mouth if they last too long. What does hang around for that little amount of time is a great sour taste.
If you are a sour fan, you will love this beer, it is by far one of the best sours I have ever had!
Last beer this week, Moody Tongue Steeped Emperor's Lemon Saison, a 6.3% Saison. I got really excited when I saw this beer available the other day. Unlike the first two beers, this is another Chicago brewery, and one that I hadn't heard of before,. On top of that I just love a good Saison.
The beer, upon pouring, had a very small, foamy head with a light color, almost like ripe pineapple. It was a very transparent beer, even for a Saison. The smell gives off a light citrus scent, obviously lemon, it just screams summer beer. You can tell it is a Saison from the smell.
Upon tasting, it is extremely light. The first thing you taste is the lemon, followed by a little wheat taste, which is surprising. The taste is not as strong as I was expecting. I love Saison's because they always have a rich flavor to them, this one was a little disappointing in that the flavor was so much lighter than expected.
Very little flavor lasts with this beer, and again surprisingly, what does last is a wheat taste.
This is not the Saison I was expecting, but I will be looking into the other beers they offer soon, especially since the brew master came from one of my favorite breweries, Goose Island. All in all, not a bad beer by any means, just not quite as robust a flavor as I want with a Saison.
Hope you guys enjoyed these beers, I sure did! Those of you that are in the states look to see if you can find either the Stone Tangerine Express IPA or the Paradox Beer Salty Lemons near you, they are both distributed nationally! Stay tuned for more craft brews next week!
