My second tasting session of the week, with three cans as before:
Magic Rock Clairvoyance 7.2%
Northern Monk Newer World 7.6%
Rooster's Baby Faced Assassin 6.1%
The two higher abv beers were in 440ml cans, with the lower alcohol Rooster's in a 330ml "kiddy kan".
One of the beers was noticeably darker when I was pouring, which again makes it hard for me to "forget" which one was which (but I'll try not to drop any hints so that you can try to guess the identities). All the beers poured with big frothy heads, though beer B's head subsided quicker. The two paler, more hazy beers gave out great wafts of tropical fruit aroma while I was pouring, and yes I was maintaining an appropriate distance while doing so.
So, beer A is pale and hazy, with a flavour reminiscent of pith and suggesting grapefruit to match its colour. It is lightly carbonated, with a pleasant mouth feel and a fairly dry finish.
Beer B is the slightly darker one, and is almost clear, and in fact the apparent darkness is due to background colours being more noticeable - if held up to the light there is almost nothing in it. Almost no aroma (at least, by comparison with beer A), but the taste is of very astringent seville oranges. The mouth feel is rather thin. The flavour is still present at the finish, even after swallowing.
Beer C is the other pale one, though not as hazy as A, but cloudier than B. Tropical fruit on the nose, but the taste is much sweeter than the other two, with a suggestion of coconut. A very smooth mouth feel, but a rather sweet finish.
I quite liked beer A, although I have to suppress my antipathy to grapefruit when assessing it. The pleasant mouth feel and bitter finish suit me, but I can't see myself singling this out again in the supermarket. B has the taste of oranges which I prefer to grapefruit, but it's very in-your-face. A subtler version of this (like Fullers 1845) would be more to my taste - or some maltiness to balance the bitterness. C is too easy drinking, too eager to please, too goddam sweet. For anyone old enough to remember Juke Box Jury, this one would get that strange motor-horn sound for MISS. (Just like
Tell Laura I Love Her did back in 1960, before spending three weeks at No.1 in the charts.)
Can you say what they are yet?