After a brief interlude, I return to the Dancing Gnome beers I brought back with me. A quick glance at the bar graph at the bottom of the last beer reminded me just how well they are doing. A Most of these beers are making it all the way to the Great category, and I am expecting something to breach the Excellent category very soon. Might it be the beer in front of me?
First sip is impressively smooth with oranges joined by grapefruit and tea is just laying a blanket over all of it - the resulting taste is smooth and mild, but the hops are coming through with a nice, solid flavor. The tea is not just tamping down the fruits, but it is adding the dark tea notes that really give the beer a nice, formal twist.
Tip-in is quite juicy with the oranges over grapefruit and the tea already doing the job of making the whole thing a lot more mild without robbing it of flavor. The middle is smooth and full with juices and tea mixing delightfully under a cap of carbonation sizzle. The finish turns bitter and somewhat dry as the tea hangs on longer than the orange for the trail-off.
Bottom Line: Different. Good.
3.25/5
