5.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6

Mostly clear copper coloured body with a very nice three to four centimetre tall off-white and tan head that fades pretty slowly with a lot of bubbles rising from the bottom and around a five per cent opacity. Aroma of dank, bitter, metallic and very astringent notes with a hint of grassiness and flowers and showing a dash of stone fruits in the nose with a tiny bit of sugars. Medium-bodied; Pungent, astringent, metallic and very bitter notes show at first, but not from the hops - these things come from the malt and especially the alcohol - there are really no fruit notes, no hops, no complex flavours and especially no sweetness here - this is all astringent and strong alcohol notes that aren't so great here. Aftertaste is pretty uninspiring, with a lot of pungency of course, but the alcohol warmth and especially the metallic notes are not what I want, and while there are glimmers of other flavours (apricots and pears) but not enough to make this desirable. Overall, a pretty poor beer - way too pungent and one-dimensional for the style, with no real sweetness, fruit flavours or hop bitterness - worth passing over entirely, even at this price point! I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can, purchased from Giant in Alexandria (Potomac Yard), Virginia on 03-January-2023 for US$8,99/four pack, canned on 23-November-2022 and sampled at my house here in Washington, a few blocks away on 06-February-2023.