It's been a while, and these beers aren't going to drink themselves, so here I am with a line up of three seemingly very different beers: the only thing they have in common is they are not Bass.
Northern Monk Order of Faith 6.0%
Bad Co Off-Tempo 2 DIPA 7.4%
Kirkstall Session IPA 4.5%
As before, I tried to keep the identities of the beers, if not hidden, then at least easy to forget. But this time they are so different in appearance that I couldn't by any stretch of the imagination make out that I didn't know which was which. However, I'll try to keep the secret by referring to them as A, B and C - though not necessarily in the correct order.
Beer A did its best to climb out of the can when I pulled the tab, and poured a frothy head which soon settled down. It is moderately hazy, with quite a dark orange colour. It has a fruity smell to it, with what I decided was pineapple predominant, but having burned an incense stick in my sitting room a few days ago, I may be misleading myself. On tasting, it's quite well balanced, with a pleasant fizz on the tongue. The finish is slightly bitter, with a hint of orange.
Beer B was also lively, and the head lasted longer. It is pale and murky, with that look about it that says they haven't bothered with malt and hops, but just stuck with grapefruit juice. On the nose it's grapefruity, with what some people would say was a hint of garlic. In the mouth it's so gloopy that it could be the contents of a spittoon; only kidding, it was actually quite pleasant. Clearly not a fruit juice though, which is good: it's malty so it must be a beer! Slightly fizzy but again pleasantly so, with a bit of complexity coming through (this was about half an hour after taking it out of the fridge). Quite a bit of flavour still remaining in the aftertaste, and a bit of pithy bitterness from the grapefruit, er I mean whichever hops are making with the grapefruit impersonation.
Beer C was content to be poured without making a fuss, and didn't retain much in the way of head. Almost transparent, though this wasn't immediately apparent, as the glass was covered in condensation (beats condescension any day). A fairly run-of-the-mill aroma, citrus and pineapple if pushed, but the mouth feel was dominated by carbon dioxide. It looks, feels and tastes like one of those beers that is designed to appeal to lager drinkers. (
Afraid you might taste something, lager boy?) Consequently, it has a sweetish finish, and leaves me looking around for some mouthwash.
Do you know what they are yet?