8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Location: Bottles purchased at Newburgh.  Rating is for the Newburgh and Plan Bee versions side by side, 10/23/16.

Aroma: Plan Bee has grape, earth, musk, and funk. Some other fruit and grains come through as well. Newburgh version is quite different, with significantly more herbal notes and honey coming through. Grape and must as well. Prefer the Newburgh slightly.

Appearance: Both are orange and hazy with a pinkish hue.  Both heads are beige and a little fizzy.  Plan Bee version has a nicer looking head that sticks around longer, but otherwise there isn’t much difference here.

Flavor: Newburgh: Balanced flavor is slightly sweet/honey, herbal, and mildly fruity. Mid-palate it gets grainy and a little dry, with just a bit of tartness on the close. The flavor is right on for me here. Lots going on, beautifully balanced. Plan Bee: Very different, but just as excellent. More funky, and probably more of a standout type of flavor profile. Cleanly tart throughout. Hard to pick a favorite for me, as I loved the balanced, subtle complexity of the Newburgh and the funky, bigger flavor of the Plan Bee. Slightest edge to the Plan Bee.

Palate: Plan Bee version has a livelier carbonation and more of an acidic thing going on on the finish. Newburgh is still pretty lively, just not as much so as Plan Bee. The finish is just a little dry and mildly acidic. Both are exceedingly drinkable, even with the fairly strong carbonation levels. Pretty much a tie here.

Overall Impression: Really enjoyed this collaboration. You can tell they didn’t over think it. Just make a beautiful base beer and let the yeast do the work. Throughout the five categories rate on my scores are different, but I somehow finished with the exact same score on both the overall and the total. That kinda says it all. Great collaboration. Great beers.
Plan Bee: 4.1: 7/4/9/4/17
Newburgh: 4.1: 8/4/8/4/17