Smuttynose Hanami Ale

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

12 oz bottle. Pours a dark, hazy amber red body. The aroma is fruit - i believe cherries. The taste is def malt with some fruit flavor. The cherries are def not overdone like with Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. Nice cherry beer.

Dark amber color with a decent head. Malty lightly hopped aroma with a touch of dark fruit. Unfortunately the cherry is much more pronounced in the flavor, not overpowering, but too much. Moderately hopped with some sweet malt. I cant imagine anyway that a cherry beer could be good without being quite dark and malty, but this is about as decent as I could imagine a medium bodied cherry beer being.

Bottle. Pours a red amber with off-white head. Aroma is dry fruit and some spiciness. Taste is medium-sweet with sour cherries and some spices. At first I really didn’t like this beer. Way too fruity. As I made my way through the six pack over a couple days I seemed to get used to it. I just finished the last one and I thought it was pretty decent.

Smuttynose Hanami Ale ABV: 5.7% IBU: ? Calories: 150? Volume: 12 fl oz Glass: tulip Purchased at: Joe Canals in West Windsor Consumed on/at: Friday March 7th, 2008 sensory first impression: The same pale red iced tea mix I’ve seen throughout this smuttynose sampler. I’ve been pretty disappointed throughout, and I’m preparing myself for more of the same here. Thin white head on the tea red haziness. Slight cherry sour sweet aroma. First taste is at least something - very sour. Cherry overtones, with other citrus notes, but not what I’d call very enjoyable. Activity stays solidly on the upper middle tongue. Almost undrinkable, but I’ll carry on. Very much like an off cherry soda pop - reminds me of a childhood expereince when I was given grape soda with real grape juice in it. When you are looking for grape soda, guess what? You don’t actually want grape juice in it. I guess it starts to grow on you, but I’m finding it hard to consider ever drinking it again after this sampler. Aroma/Olfactory: Malt flavor is: Sour cherry, and lime. Sounds great. It’s not. Hop flavor is: very very floral - bitterness is there, but not enjoyable. Yeast flavor is: like an moldy sponge used to clean a dirty sink. Other flavors include: licorice, raisin, sulphur, soy sauce, smoke, mushroom Visuals/Appearance: Color is: pale, reddish brown, like a hazy iced tea mix. I’ve typed this 3 times now tonight. Smuttynose is a one hit wonder. Liquid is: hazy, cloudy, and dull. Head and lace are: easily the best part of the experience, but just the lace - it hangs and hangs and hangs. Taste/Flavor: Maltiness or Sweetness level is: light. Hoppiness or Bitterness level is: light to medium. Sour level is: off the charts. Palate/Tactile: Body or Mouthfeel is: medium. Texture is: thick and oily. Carbonation is: soft to lively, like seltzer. Finish is: long and bitter, but not very enjoyable. Overall experience: Not a bad experience, as a way to show what a hard-worked but bad tasting beer tastes like. It’s almost entirely unenjoyable, except as an experiment, a fruity play on beer, and a thematic focus. I’m not looking forward to having the other Hanami samplers. C’mon, Smuttynose.

Clear amber body with a weak white head. Aroma was a bit nondescript. The cherries were barely noted. Mostly malt sweetness. I love cherries and was disappointed. There was the tartness of cherries in the flavor but not the luscious cherry taste expected. A big disappointment from an otherwise satisfying brewery.

May 2007 - Beer pours the color of raspberry iced-tea with a head with tinges of pink color to it. Aroma is of musty-sour fruit. The flavor is tart cherry, but not overpowering, with a sour puckering finish and some hints of mustiness. I can understand a brewer wanting to do something "different" for a change, and this fits the bill for the beer drinker. Pretty good fruit beer.

Bottle. Pours red amber with a white head. Sweet malt nose with cherry and some hoppy notes. Medium body, pretty heavily carbonated. Flavor is sour/acidic fruit, cherry specifically, with a hint of some spice. Tart and dry finish. Not an awful beer, but not that great.

The aroma did not lead me to believe that it would be so bad but it mostly smells like paper, with some cherries and yeast. The appearance is amber with almost no head. The flavor is yucky but like the aroma. The palate is thin.