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Review – (2) from Shades Brewing

I got three beers from a Salt Lake City brewery that I had never heard of from a dear friend who traveled their recently. So I randomly picked two Shades Brewing beers in their colorful cans to review.

Plum Berliner Weisse – pours a multi-hued purple, red and peach color. Very pretty, as is the shades of purple label. The plum taste trumpets in well. Not one of these where’s the fruit? beers. Nice tartness level. And nice spritzy carbonation as well.

Passion Fruit Sour – another sour bursting with actual fruit. This has the hallmark funky meets tropical aroma and flavor of a passion fruit. Sour level is low but it just tastes fantastic. Liquid fruit from a Farmer’s Market.

Both sours were just great. I cannot stress enough how much of the fruit came through. Real fruit not the fakey candy kind. If you find yourself in Salt Lake grab these beers.

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Bubble Tea

Just when you think that brewers have stopped raiding other beverages, along comes the Maryland Guinness brewery with…

“In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and in collaboration with Diageo’s PAN Asian Network, we’re brewing a Bubble Tea Inspired Stout. The iconic black tea, vanilla, brown sugar and tapioca flavors meet our base stout recipe in the first Baltimore-brewed can release that we’ve ever nitrogenated!

A $15,000 donation is being made to the incredible creatives at Baltimore’s Asian Pasifika Arts Collective as part of this collab project.”

It actually sounds kind of good to me.

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200!

Brouwerij Lindemans has reached a really major milestone and has a new beer made for the special occasion.

“To celebrate our 200 years of existence, we present to you our exclusive anniversary Cuvée: Oude Gueuze Anniversary Blend 2022 “Cuvée Francisca”. After a spontaneous fermentation, this 4-year-old lambic and young lambic aged in oak moths refine in bottles for 12 months.”

The brewery continues, “…the ancient Cuvée Francisca unveils a flavor of agrum and oak as well as notes of vanilla, combined with a sherry aroma and a refreshing acidity. An ancient dry, complex and perfectly balanced gueze.”

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Sean Suggests for May 2022

This month is all California with a leaning to styles not normally seen or ingredients not as often used.

Firestone Walker / Green Cheek – Parrotphrase – 4.5% “We teamed up with Green Cheek Beer Co. to create Parrotphrase, a limited-edition Dry-Hopped Grisette with crisp flavors of passionfruit and guava. Parrotphrase will be the Welcome Beer at the Invitational Beer Festival.”

Cellador Ales – Golden Healer – 5% “an intensely aromatic, and reminds me of the perfumey quality of walking by a guava tree in Southern California in the fall. The base beer has lots of depth, with classic Farmhouse beer character, which plays well with the slightly herbal note of the guavas.”

Beachwood Brewing – Barrel Aged Full Malted Jacket Scotch Ale – 12% – “Bringing back our two-time GABF award-winning Full Malted Jacket Bourbon Barrel-Aged Scotch Ale. With its NEW partner in crime, Full Malted Jacket RYE Barrel-Aged Scotch Ale. You’ll taste accents of vanilla and toasted oak that meld seamlessly with notes of toffee and caramel.

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Spoke(n) For

Those who curate solid craft beer lists should be followed. In that spirit, Jimmy Smith who until recently worked the kegs at Glendale Tap is now handling the beer program at Spoke Bicycle Cafe in Frogtown.

No, you do not need a bike helmet or those too tight shorts to enter, just a love of beer. Check it out Thursday through Sunday.

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Timberland Sam

Need some boots for the brewery or the trails or wherever you wear boots? I wouldn’t know because I don’t think I ever owned boots. But these new ones from Timberland look kinda cool…

I like that the color scheme matches and the logo is prominent but not dominant.

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New in San Diego

I do not know how one person can cover the vast San Diego craft beer scene. Too much. Way too much. But read HERE for info on four, yes four new breweries…

  • VooDoo Child Brewing
  • Backyard Brewing
  • Tipping Pint
  • Seek Beer Co.

Doing a new brewery crawl might be an easier ask.

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Label Insanity

Playing a bit of catch-up here, last month the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild held their Label Insanity contest.

I think that each brewers guild or as many that want to, should do this so that there could be a giant countrywide competition. What makes this competition good is that they have niche’d it to “insane” instead of best. That choice could allow for a best Halloween or Christmas label as well.

Here is this years winner in North Carolina….