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This is the third beer in the journey, and the journey is not living up to its potential. Well, the beer itself, in this review, has yet to either exceed expectations or disappoint. The experiment itself has not really gone as I'd hoped. What I expected was a featured hop of the beer that would delight me in new and more fascinating ways, but it's not like any of these are going to be breakout hits. Maybe the mosaic will be the big difference. Maybe the dry hopping has worked to its detriment, but it may be impossible to tell. Either way, this beer is going to stand on its own, whether it's good or bad.
Like the others, this is not particularly filtered, so it just kind of looks like orange juice. If anything, this is a little more orange than the others, and I think I might actually mistake this for orange juice. The bubbles on top are not pulp, so that's a dead giveaway, but the aroma is heavy with orange and grapefruit juice. Maybe I could mistake this for some kind of blend of citrus juices. I can say that I like the smell right away, as it has tartness and sweetness in a very alluring mixture.
First sip is solid and flavorful. The slight dryness and bitterness on the back end was predictable after the last beer, and it isn't as strong in this one. Instead, the fruit juices are allowed to be a bit more refreshing before the bitterness and dryness become a way for the mouth to deal with the preceding delicious fruit mixture. It's only a sip so far, but this beer has already won me over. Even if the gulp winds up not being great, I would already recommend sipping this. It tastes pretty darn good.
Tip-in is a little bit of citric acid and bubbles above a fairly quiet mixture of grapefruit and orange with possibly a star fruit tossed in. The middle sends carbonation to the back of the throat to burn while the perfectly balanced fruits are allowed to mix in the center of the mouth to produce a somewhat thin but delicious mixture of hops. The finish is the expected bitterness that joins dryness for the fruit zest-filled trail off.
Bottom Line: Best one in the pack so far.
3.75/5
