(Bottle 35,5 cl) Courtesy of pepsican. Hazy amber golden with a small white head. Aroma of overripe fruit. Medium body with sweet caramel and overripe fruit. The finish is dry. 180808

12 oz. bottle. For the near-warning about how mild this is for an IPA, it actually pours out a nice, rich amber color. Bubbly head, and some particles swirling about in the body: yeast dregs or bits of unfiltered hop pellet? A good hoppy IPA smell with plenty of Cascade in evidence (although in this hop drought, there may be some substitutions at play). Very first taste impression is peppermint, then that’s gone. Following is a sharply bitter hop note with herbal backing. Plenty of malt here, but despite their description, the hops do get your attention. Notes of orange further down, and a whiff of alcohol to follow. Yeah, this is a good an IPA as I’ve found brewed in my home state; though I haven’t had as many Iowa beers as I’d like yet. Date notch suggests this is maybe two months old, so be sure to look for fresh stuff.

New notes 11/6/2013: This is rebranded as Hefe ’R’ Weissen (with cows on the label, get it, and the abv is up to 5.6%. Chris Priebe at Millstream said it’s basically the same recipe, the abv is the current average efficiency, and they switched to Millenium and Willemette hops due to availability. I get the same hefeweizen esters in the nose, but it’s kind of welcome since I didn’t get to too many hefes this season. Cloudy hefe yellow, a big rocky head. Taste is fronted mostly by citrus. Esters are not up front on the tongue, leaving room for golden, toasty malt, a bit of sourness that seems to come from the wheat (is some of it undermodified?). Would like to see this pouring from a tap in my area, I think it’d be better than from a bottle. Original rating, 6/4/7/3/13=3.3; 9/10/2008: 12 oz. bottle. A bit darker yellow than the average hefe; bubbly head that dissipates quickly. First nose impression is of orange, then clove. That clove and orange stays around in the taste, gives it a different character that I kind of like. Good-sized malt bill adds to color and taste. Some hefe banana esters come in after that. A more defined sharp German hop profile than I usually get with hefes, too. Some yeast taste toward the bottom, though there’s no sediment to suggest bottle conditioning. Different and interesting.

Bottle. A dark brown beer with a small, tan head. Chocolate, roasted malt and some coffee in the aroma. A bit one-dimentional maybe, but quite nice. The flavor has beef-stock, coffee, chocolate, a little touch of butterscotch and a coffee bitter finish. Medium body, quite dry, yet with a sweetish feeling. Sweetness, coffee and some butterscotch as well, in the finish. A quite nice one, but nothing more. Easy to drink, but maybe a bit dry for an oatmeal stout. (080822)

Bottle. It pours a clear, deep golden body with a small off-white head. Malty nose with some caramel, umami and something reminiscent of the fat in cooked sheep. Doesn’t sound very good, but actually it was a quite good one. Malty caramel flavor with umami and roasted malt. The finish is much the same, caramel, roasted malt and umami. Medium body. A nice and quite surprising lager, nothing more. (080822)

12 fl oz bottle. Pours dark brown to black with fully diminished tan head. Almost smooth mouthfeel. Chocolate and roasted malt aroma, quite dark and slight roasted. Roasted malt base flavour with a smooth chocolate note and a reappearing roasted malt flavour showing a distinct acidity into the finish. Lingering chocolate malty finish.

12 fl oz bottle. Pours clear and golden deep orange with a fully gone head. Mild spiced and alcohol aroma,mild roasted malt note towards breadish. Mild sweet and breadish roasted base flavour with a mild spice note. Nicely counterbalanced by some bitterhops giving a nice smoothness and balance into the finish.

12 fl oz bottle. Pours cloudy orange with a lacing white head. Mild spiced and malty to breadish aroma. Spiced and hoppy flavour, dry breadish malt base flavour. Distinct spiced into the finish, breadish malt finish too.