Shorts Imperial Soft Parade

Brewed by Shorts Brewing Co.
Style: Fruit Beer
Bellaire, Michigan USA

From a 750mL Bottle, #325/1005. Courtesy of CharlesDarwin. Mostly transparent, blood orange flesh tinted amber pour with a firm layer of tight bubbled, off-white head. Fruity nose of blueberry skins, raspberry juice, and strawberry seeds. Hints of rye spice. Herbal leafy notes and faint pineapple esters. Medium bodied, softly carbonated mouthfeel. Very herbal, with a substantial amount of leafy and strawberry seed flavors, making it a bit astringent. Notes of under-ripe blueberries drift in toward the finish, along with some warming alcohol. A bit thin and pithy in flavor overall. There isn’t much malt depth to help round it out and the fruits aren’t very robust. The aroma is pleasant, but the fruit depth doesn’t translate well to the palate. Thanks, Tom!

750mL Bottle. Faint fruitiness. A touch of caramel. Subtle and mild. Pours an ambered haze, with a golden fringe. A rim in whitish. Flavor is sweet and piquant in alcohol, strawberries, and spice. Fruity. A bit chewy. Not as complex as I would have expected. Salty. A little jam in the flavor. It’s not bad. A little dry and bitter. Dry and clean for a fruit beer. The seedy bitterness puts me off a little bit. A nip alcoholic. Middle of the road. In the end it’s just a little too plain for something that’s supposed to be so intense. And it’s not that I’m not appreciating subtlety or nuance, this beer just doesn’t get that deep and doesn’t really have any other attractive non-flavor qualities. Thanks Sean!

750ml bottle acquired in trade with hoppymeal (thanks!). Bottle # 228/1005. Poured a medium to deeper and muddy reddish/purplish/brownish color with a smaller sized head. Aromas of lots of different berries (strawberies, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries). I would get a different berry every time I sniffed. The berries were done nice! Tastes of the same berries with some light rye bread in tehre as well. Light tart finish. Good thing I like all the types of berries in this one.

Thanks to hopdog for sharing this one. Pours a hazy ruby red/pink with a medium creamy/bubbly off white head that left lacing. Aroma of strawberry hard candy, blueberries, alcohol Flavor of the same berries, a little more medicinal in the flavor with some alcohol burn, more strawberry as it warmed also getting some tart notes and bitterness. Some light rye, dry for being a fruity beer...rye may be presenting the bitterness I’m picking up also.

reddish brown pour with a thin white head. Strong berry aroma. Flavor had a strong fruit kick with a slight acidity. Some graininess and a touch of hops rounded it out. Finished slightly tart with a bit of an alcohol kick.

750ml bottle. We tried this at a tasting side-by-side with a growler of Soft Parade. Darker and hazier than the Soft Parade. Purple-brown in color with a thin white head. Aroma was of blunted berries and some white paper. Tart on the tongue, and not as dry as it’s cousin beer. Still fairly dry, though. The body was lighter than I had expected. Nice mix of berry and delicately sweet cereal grain flavors.

750mL bottle at DLD thanks to Yaniv! Poured deeper, hazy brown with a well-retained cap of white head. The aroma picked up lots of darker spices upfront with mixed berry tartness not far behind.. dark and most certainly intriguing. The flavor had lots of blackberry tartness with rising dark spices and alcohol warmth toward the back.. grainy berry seeds ride out the tart, lengthy finish.. tasty! Tart and effervescent on the palate with a dry, grainy back-end.. well-balanced and I really enjoyed the berry component.

after hauling this from my basement to dld i was ready for a warm disappointment.. i refused to give it to joe in a trade because i thought it would be too terrible and didnt want to be a JO to this nice generous trader.... boy was i wrong... this thing was good!... now that i remember it, the nonimperial one got better as it warmed and this was a pleasant surprise. fruity and spicy the tartness reminds me of a toned down fruity lambic... a refreshing fruit drink with a crip taste....