Hot on the heels of yesterday's out-of-the-gate dazzling 4/5 beer, I have another Dancing Gnome beer to try out. This one is an APA, so I'm tempering my expectations a little bit. One of the great beers I had many years ago was the APA put out by Stoudt's Brewing, but there do seem to be comparatively few of them out there, so they wind up being the neglected versions of the pale ale family.
First sip is a little thin at first, but the subtle pine mixes with flowers and fruit rinds to give enough taste to justify the beer. I may just have tuned too much into what IPAs are like lately, and I need to reacquire the appreciation for the gentle caress of a beer with a lot of soul that doesn't need to shout about it. This is a solid sip so far, and it doesn't jump up and down on my tongue.
Tip-in is moderate carbonation sizzle above the pine and flower mix with indefinite malt and rinds tossed in for good measure. The middle shoves the carbonation to the throat to burn while fruits come to overpower the fading pine and flowers with the malt still not showing its hand. The finish is slight dryness before more juice and a calm yet distinct bitterness latches on for the trail off.
Bottom Line: Good and solid.
3.5/5
