1st Visit – Nova Brewing

A taster tray is 6 strong here. I got all 4 of the Ginjo 7 beers made with Sake yeast plus a smoke beer and an IPA.  Thankfully the gate was open, so I didn’t have to call with password to get into the semi-industrial area.  Inside it is a spare, multipurpose taproom.  Seating truncated by empty kegs and boxes on one side plus a cooler and small microwave in between sparse shelving units. It was a bit warm inside.  I got tagged by a mosquito while drinking so session moved faster than I might normally do because two large itchy bites is my limit. 

Starting with the sake yeast beers which is quite strong in the White, masked a little more in the Red. But the Blue had a nice double hit of saison and sake mixed. The Black has a bit of wine barrel to it tending towards sour. Red and Blue clearly were better to me because the balance was better because damn that Sake yeast is strong.

The Horizon IPA was different but good, maybe the different made it stand out.  The smoke beer was my favorite, it had really nice wood note that you lose sometimes in smoked ales.  This was softer than a traditional rauchbier. No smoke in your eyes at a campfire and more BBQ.

Overall, not my favorite beers, maybe the Sake is stronger but I will leave that to Sake Search Party for that review.