I hadn’t read anywhere that this was coming and so I was a little surprised seeing it in my local Sainsbury’s.
The label looks good and the notes on the back say all the right things but this beer isn’t great.
Yes it’s a decent colour, a nice amber with a ring of bubbles for a head, but there’s something odd about the aroma.
There’s a distinct lack of the smells you’d expect from an American beer of this style with this kind of ABV.
Where there should be a big punchy smell there’s just a light whiff of something that might be caramel and a slight citrus edge.
You get a decent toffee and pine resin in the malts, and a pretty good peppery tingle on your tongue.
But when the hops come in, as well as dryness, lemon and lime bitterness and a pretty OK wood pulp sappiness, there’s a background flavour that I find rather unpleasant.
It’s a little like a chemical burn, something not natural, not right, and it leaves a weird creamines on your tongue instead of the long dry finish you’d want.
I won’t be buying this again.