Grabbed a pint at whole foods Columbus on way to ballet oddly, been wanting to try this beer for awhile since I’m a weirdo. Dusty orange yellow pour small sudsy head. Nose is crackers and lemon. Tastes of lemon, light herbs, grainy, water crackers, some peppery notes. Fine palate.

12 oz bottle poured into a tulip pint glass. Clear straw yellow with close to two fingers of off-white head. Aromas of malt, citrus, some wheat, herbs, light corn. Tastes of malt, wheat, slight bit of corn, lemon lime citrus. Light body with a dry finish. Nice accidental sort of beer.

Total Wine, Fairfax 12oz: Pours gold with a white head. Aroma is lightly citrus, some grass, and malty backbone. Taste is a little hoppy. Nice citrus and weed flavors in there. Amarillo hops make this a little bit different from any other California Common I’ve had. Interesting.

Rerate: The previous example was so bad I felt I should give this one another shot. 12 ounce bottle. Pours a hazy peach color with a large frothy head. Good head retention. Aroma of herbal hops, chili peppers and pale malts. The taste is herbal, minty, citrus hops with pale malts and an earthy note. Medium bodied, lingering bitterness. Still not great, but at least this time it’s not like drinking butter. 5/4/6/3/12. My novel of an original review follows...

I had a time or two heard of the derecho phenomenon. It was a thing from somewhere else. Some kind of weather event with a kind of cool sounding name, but a weather event that didn’t happen where I lived. Until one day it did. I remember in the aftermath, after the days of no power, after the nights of failing to sleep in the incredible heat, after the fouled food, after the angst that existed within myself and everyone around me, and amidst the pride and togetherness that all communities feel after something terrible and strange happens, I saw a video of the radar images of this storm. This storm that I had experienced as a rainless maelstrom of lightning and stifling winds. A storm front that had I seen in the daylight would have looked as terrifying and cavernous than the gateway to Hell. A storm that looked on that radar like a mass of cancer. Writhing and menacing like a mass of pure unadulterated evil. Yeah, this beer is named after that. Port City lost their power for several days with a batch of pilsner in the tanks that they could not chill. Hence... steam beer! I’m happy to see other people enjoyed this beer when they tried it. Now that I’m trying it a little later, it seems things have gone awry. Served on draft at McGrady’s Charlottesville. Pours a clear amber color with a thin frothy head. Below average head retention. Aroma of vinegar, diacetyl and a faint maltiness. The taste is buttered bread with grassy hops. Thin bodied and pretty off. I admire the experiment, but at least at this point it didn’t pan out. 3/4/5/2/8

Draft. Hazy yellow color, small white head, fair lacing. Aroma of earthy straw and white bread. Taste is dusty lemons.

Draft at DoG St. Pub, Williamsburg VA: Grass nose, not real strong. Cloudy golden, medium head. Grainy and grassy, muddled with no clear transitions. Not a bad beer at all.

On tap at brewery as well as from growler immediately afterward. This beer poured a pretty clear yellow-amber color with a thick, foamy white head, not unlike the Downright Pilsener that they make (the base beer). Aroma was sweet malts, with a bit of grassy notes, and a touch of mild hop characteristics. Highly drinkable for a style that I’m always on the fence about, but given this was an accident, I certainly give them props for salvaging the brew!