Shorts Grass River Natural Ale

GABF 2007. Solid, but not spectacular, and pales in comparison to the other offerings at their booth. Grassy through and through, from the smell to the taste to the feel to the finish. Very clean bitter hops in the finish, not much citric quality, staying true to the British ideal I guess. Some menthol-ish mint in the finish as well which is kind of distracting. Not at all fruity. Like every Shorts beer I’ve had, a flavor experiment that you either like or don’t, which I respect.

Bottle poured a lightly hazy copper with a lasting white head. Aromas of carmel, earthiness and light citrus. Palate was light bodied and crisp. Flavors of bread, carmel, earthiness and a hint of orange with a crisp lightly bitter finish.

12 Oz Bottle. Aroma is a nice tangy, hop resin and spiced rum aroma. Light alcohols carry a very old world hop scent to the nose. Bits of Styrofoam mingle. Pours a hazed peach golden with rim of soapy white, rocky on the way down. Flavor rings with some bitter hop Styrofoam again, I’m pretty certain this is derived from one of the hop varieties, but a whole mouth of chewy candied orange and caramel malt brings earthly delight. Explosive and granular. Texture is right on for the style. There’s some fun musty spice, speaking of Indian Curry and Caribbean pickling. A nice beer and a wonderful rendition of the particular style. Thanks Sean!

12 ounce bottle courtesy of Xav33- thanks X! Pours a hazy straw colour with very good head retention. Aroma’s of sweet fruit in the nose. Taste- very nice hop bite at first sip, juicy and aromatic. Malts- cereal and grainy. Blends well with the juicy hops. The grassy and woody side of the hops take over at the finish. I can’t exactly place the hops- given its an english IPA, I’ll presume mostly english. If so, there was more pine and citrus than I would have expected. This is a good quaffer, refreshing and carbonation levels are spot on. I never even noticed that it was an organic offering - a great organic beer for those interested in all things organic. A good brew for a hot and sticky summer day.

Shorts Grass River Natural Ale 12 oz bottle. Recent brewing, enjoyed 07/07. Moderate pour in a tulip glass. Poured a hazy amber with a moderate fizzy mostly diminishing white head. Smelt of moderate fresh hops, mostly spruce and its resin, and a light to moderate sweet bread and pineapple. Taste was upfront strong bitter spruce and bittersweet pineapple and light to moderate honey and sweet bread followed by a strong bitter spruce and resin taste and a light sweet honey, gelatin and bread taste on a long buzzing green hops finish. Palate was light to medium bodied, slightly oily, lively carbonated and moderately astringent and numbing from the hops. Overall, this is a very good English style IPA. Tastes like fresh hops. It feels like a fresh undiscovered forest. Great stuff!