Hey, another beer from Short's! Wait - I've never heard of them. Where are these guys from? Michigan? They have a lot of breweries I thought Wisconsin was supposed to be the place for breweries, but it seems like Michigan might be the new... California? I don't know. I feel like I'm just stalling in case this isn't very good at this point.
The beer pours a very deep gold that borders on brass. I don't know why I expected a much lighter color, other than the fact that India Pale Ales are generally pretty... pale. It is a goodly head that sprouts forth, and it is particularly thick with a lot of staying power. It doesn't appear to leave much lacing in its wake, but it leaves a very rocky, thick layer of bubbles on top of the beer. The aroma is sweet caramel malt with flowers and pine.First sip has a lot more bread than I expected, and it also has quite a bitter bite coming from the pine and flowers. It vaguely reminds me of a beer I had at a hotel once that was British in origin, and it leaned heavily into pine. While I did not like that particular beer, this one has the added flowers to subtly change the dynamic going on between the hops and malt. That change is definitely for the better.
Tip-in is light carbonation with caramel malt and flowers. The middle heightens up the carbonation while the center gets thick with a caramel malt that is joined by the bread that I tasted in the sip while pine starts to encroach on the otherwise floral bed. The finish is a swell of bitterness rather than a snap, and the genteel nature of its introduction makes it welcome for the trail off.
Bottom Line: Short by name, but long on taste.
3.75/5