Canned 4/5/22, drunk 4/25/22. Heavily hazy, bronze-brass-golden with a medium-sized, frothy, white head showing moderate retention. Man, I frickin' LOVE this series. I'm definitely biased as I absolutely love vanilla, especially vanilla bean instead of extract. And there's a lot of it to love in the nose....huge, creamy-sweet, very strong, certainly overwhelming in a balanced/unbalanced sense, but I think that's the point here. A rather decadent, novel, treat. There's some strong citrus and light pine spice behind it, gently attempting to balance. No flaw or alcohol. Pine, vanilla, earth, lightly astringent vanilla bitterness and a rather light body. Would actually appreciate a little more oomph here, even given that this is a 5.2% pale ale. The vanilla adds plentiful bitterness, and in concert with the hops, it's just not balanced enough by the highly attenuated, rather sparse malts. Not enough substance to the body/texture and virtually zero sweetness, of which it doesn't need much, but still more than is present here. That said, whatever...it's a decadent, over-the-top, vanilla monster and the real vanilla bean is evident from the start of the aroma to the last sip.

Pours a hazy, glowing orange, with mid-sized head. Aroma is orange and vanilla. Flavor is orange and vanilla, with some light hoppy bitterness in the finish. Soft mouthfeel. This one might almost be better than the full-bore Creamsicle!