Grand Opening Day for Transplants Brewing finally arrived and here are my thoughts on the beers and atmosphere of our northerly brewing neighbor.
There were an impressive twelve beers on tap and an impressive amount of city officials with commendations too. The space is large and dominated by a cold box and bar in the center. Brewing operations take up the back corner and there is plenty of seating, including a couple of comfy couches to chill out on.
I started with a taster try of the lighter and hoppier. Palmdale Poppies is a nice light house beer. Cumber Some is filled with cucumber aroma and even more in the flavor. And it is apparently popular as a mix for beer cocktails already. Cream Cycle might be a skosh sweet but the beer has a nice cream texture and the orange and hops balance in the end. The SumNug IPA is as good as many other IPA’s from breweries too.
The second taster tray was the dark side. With a Filbert Brown that was big on chocolate but a little too thin for me. The Private Line Coconut had thankfully a restrained coconut taste but I have come to the conclusion that me and coconut and beer are not a good trio. The Bayou Black coffee beer was well executed and my favorite of the group which was rounded out by Maxmas a barleywine that was much more in the English tradition. Big and sweet and redolent of toffee.
Out of the gate the beers are well rounded and considering the use of so many additional items like nuts and vegetables are surprisingly not gacky. (Technical beer term for too much going on in a beer.) There is room to grow in the dark beers and the IPA’s could use a little market distinction but this is a good starting point to grow from.
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