Recently in B+ Category

Every year, Almanac attempts to put their spin on the Pumpkin beer. This is my first, but they've done an Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine and a Dark Pumpkin Sour, which both sound interesting, but they change it up every year. Perhaps someday, they'll land on the perfect iteration, but for now, I'm enjoying their attempts. This is a spiced brown ale blend of beer aged in wine and Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels with hand-roasted California heirloom pumpkins and their house souring bugs. Not too shabby:

Almanac Pumpkin Sour - Pours a dark brown, almost black color with just a cap of fizzy, tan head that is not long for this world. Smells a little like a sour stout, some dark malts, some spices, and a slight sour twang. Taste starts off very sweet, some dark malts and spice, just a little in the way of oak, maybe a hint of bourbon, vinous fruit, and a nice puckering sourness towards the finish. Mouthfeel is a little light on the carbonation, but there's plenty to keep it going, medium bodied, moderate acidity, hints of booze. Overall, this is an interesting beer, quite complex, though I'm not sure how much the pumpkin character sines through. The spices are there, but I'm not sure I'd identify this as pumpkin spice alone. Of course, this has no real bearing on anything, as the beer is pretty darn good. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8.5% ABV bottled (375 ml). Drank out of a flute glass on 9/26/15. Bottled: 072315.

As always, an interesting beer from Almanac, if not quite their best. I look forward to their next iteration on Pumpkin though. I'm sure I'll managed another Farm to Barrel beer in the near future though, so stay tuned.

Tonight was beer club! For the uninitiated, beer club is a monthly gathering of like-minded coworkers and acquaintances at a local BYOB for drinks, food, and general revelry. This time, we stopped in at a local Pizza place for some deep fried dough, strombolis, and yes, pizza. It's not a big place and the pizza isn't as spectacular as the last beer club gathering, but we always manage to make due. Good attendance tonight too, and plenty of beer.

(Click to embiggen)

For the sake of posterity, some half-addled thoughts on each beer are listed below. Standard disclaimers apply, this was a social gathering, so I wasn't paying too close of attention to what I was drinking and you should totes ignore what I'm writing and make up your own mind because I'm totally the worst and this post is definitely an ill-advised idea that I'm only doing out of tradition because I've done it for all previous iterations of beer club and are you even reading this? Why? The beer notes are below, in order of tasting, not necessarily in the order pictured (and some later attendees brought some stuff that is not pictured):

• Platform Speed Merchant White IPA - Not expecting much out of this Ohio beer brought back by a visitor, fantastic citrusy nose, more typical IPA-like taste. Quite solid though, and worth a look on its own. B+
• Pizza Boy Hop Test #1 (Cascade Single Hop) - Yep, it's a pale ale. The very definition of cromulence, this does nothing particularly special, but it's an enjoyable little pale ale. B
• New Belgium Pumpkick - Whoa there, this is quite perfumey, moar ginger than anything else, but that perfumey character really overpowers everything else with this beer. Not horrendous, but not a particularly good pumpkin beer either. C+
• Firestone Walker Union Jack - Back in the early days of this blog, this would have been an A worthy beer, but grade inflation is a bitch. It's still an accomplished and emminently accomplished IPA, well worth checking out. Delicious citrus/pine/malt balance. B+
• Weyerbacher Tarte Nouveau - Very nice little tart beer, tart, crisp, refreshing, very light bodied and easy going, sorta beginner sour stuff but quite nice on its own. B+
• Overshores Tripel Brun - Bottle a bit of a gusher, and thus carbonation levels a bit off, but this is basically a very raisiny Belgian strong dark. B
• Brasserie De Blaugies / Hill Farmstead La Vermontoise - I know I've had this before, but apparently I never reviewed it. It's not quite up to speed with the best of Hill Farmstead, but it's a rock solid saison, earthy and spicy, quite delicious. B+
• Fantôme Coffee Ruby - One of my contributions, this came off as surprisingly muted. There's some coffee character that is definitely present, but it's not overpowering at all, despite the fact that there doesn't seem to be a ton of other stuff going on with this beer. It's got a very, very mild funk to it, and the combination of the base with coffee doesn't entirely blesh, but it's certainly an interesting beer. A little weird, but could more interesting with more funk. Keeping in mind my legendary indifference to coffee, I'll give it a B
• Cascade Figaro - This is typical Cascade sour here, which is to say, it's a fantastic little sour. I don't get a lot of fig or lemon peel out of it, but it's got that trademark Cascade lactic sour and oak character that just work so damn well. Generally agreed to be one of the best of the night. A-
• White Birch Indulgence Ale (2014) - Not sure which version of this beer I tried (I think it's this retired 2014 version), but it was labeled as a Belgian Imperial Stout, and it definitely had a sorta brighter take on the imperial stout style that worked really well. Lots of rich malt, light roast, some hints of Belgian character, but with the style's inherent dark malt sweetness (i.e. not a dry or highly carbonated beer). Actually quite nice and among the better of the night. B+
• Brewmaster Jack Barrel Aged Prinsipia Quad - Sounds great, but came out kinda limp, very boozy, a little raisiny Belgian character, but not at all balanced. Not terrible, but not quite getting the job done either. B-

And that just about covers it. We just got this one in under the wire, last day of the month. Will need to try and plan the next beer club soon. Great time, as always.

Tahoe Mountain is a new brewery to me, introduced by our mutual friend Jay from Beer Samizdat in a recent cross-country trade. They appear to hail from Truckee, CA, on the Eastern side of the state near, you guessed it, Lake Tahoe. In fact, it appears they're just a few miles down the road from Kaedrin favorite FiftyFifty, which makes Truckee a pretty impressive little brewing town considering its location. They seem to be big on experimentation and barrel-aging, which is music to my earballs, so let's take a closer look at the two beers Jay flung my way, drunk whilst engaging in a mini-Larry Cohen horror movie marathon.

First up is their "full-bodied, yet sessionable rustic multi-grain Farmhouse Ale", a description bound to annoy English readers since it clocks in at 6.2% ABV. Perhaps these guys graduated from the Adam Avery "They're all session beers" school of thought, though this is admittedly a pretty easy going beer. Strap in folks, it's going to be a relatively smooth ride, but you can never be too careful:

Tahoe Mountain Provisions - Pours a hazy golden yellow color with several fingers of fluffy white head that sticks around and leaves lacing all over the place. Smells spicy, bready belgian yeast, with an almost grapelike fruit aroma kicking in too. Taste crackles with that spicy character, a little bit of a bite there, with only hints of yeasty esters lingering towards the finish. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, crisp, and effervescent, very dry, but with enough firepower to keep it from feeling slight. Overall, what we have here is yet another rock solid but traditional style saison. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 6.2% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a Teku glass on 9/25/15.

Next up, we have a wild ale "aged two years in oak cabernet barrels with fresh cherries and blueberries", which sounds a mighty bit more experimental than the previous beer. Let's see what's up:

Tahoe Mountain Viejo Rojo - Pours a dark amber color, deep robey tones, nice looking when held up to light, with a finger of off white head. Smells Flandersy, acetic sour cherries, a little oak and vanilla rounding things out. Taste has a nice rich sweetness to it, some of those sour cherries pitching in, dark vinous fruit, clearly some dark (but not roasty) malts contributing, vinegar and a nice, well matched sourness puckering things up in the finish. As it warms, the tartness creeps up earlier into the taste, but regardless, it's more sweet than sour. Mouthfeel is full bodied and rich, well carbonated, some vinegary acidity cuts through it all, but is not overpowering. Overall, this is a really nice sour, along the lines of a Flanders red, and makes me want to check out more Tahoe Mountain stuff. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 7.8% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a wine glass on 9/25/15.

Certainly a promising start for a brewery I've never heard of before. Here's to hoping Jay slings more of these my way in future trades!

Lomaland sounds like some ill-fated Lego theme park utopia, but the real-life origins of the name aren't that far off. Founded in 1900 by a bunch of proto-hippies, Lomaland was a utopian Theosophical community located in Point Loma in San Diego. Apparently they were fans of weird architecture (Ivo Shandor? The timeline is actually just about right for that, though Shandor's work is famously in New York) and planting trees, orchards, and shrubs, much of which survives to this day. I mean, it's no Cloud Cuckoo Land, but it's probably about as close as the real world ever got to such a place. Or not. I've never been to San Diego and know nothing about anything, so we should probably just get to the beer, which is a pretty traditional rustic saison in the Dupont mold, maybe a little on the lighter, drier side. Let's catch a ride to Cloud Cuckoo Land and hang with Princess Unikitty whilst imbibing this:

Modern Times Lomaland - Pours a clear straw yellow color with a few fingers of fluffy white head and decent retention. Smells very spicy, cloves all over the place, a little peppery note here or there, some fruity esters doing their thing. Taste is a little more subdued, but it's the same gist as the nose, a little spice, clove and pepper, some fruity flavors coming to the fore towards the finish. Mouthfeel is light bodied, well carbonated, crisp, and very dry, on the quaffable side too. Overall, rock standard saison material here, not going to blow you away, but a nice canned beverage. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV canned (16 ounce pounder). Drank out of a tulip glass on 9/18/15. Canned on 7/13/15.

Many thanks to Jay of Beer Samizdat for sending this one along. Modern times as a pretty great line of beers. I'd love to get my hands on some Funky Lomaland (basically this beer dosed with Brett and aged in wine barrels) or the BA variants of Monsters' Park.

The wishful thinking approach to fall: start drinking fall beers in the hopes of precipitating a drop in temperatures. We're fast approaching my favorite time of year, so I'm breaking out some more fall-based beers. We're not really ready for pumpkins just yet, but an imperialized Oktoberfest beer brewed with blueberry honey and brown sugar that's then aged in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels and conditioned on blueberries? That's the ticket. It's also perhaps a bit much, but I'll be damned if it doesn't work:

Neshaminy Creek Bourbon Barrel Aged Creekfestbier Lager - Pours a slightly cloudy, deep, dark amber brown color with a finger and a half of off-white head. Those blueberries certainly show up in the nose, actually meshing pretty well with bourbon, oak, and vanilla, giving it an almost blueberry/bourbon jam kinda aroma. Taste is sweet, rich bourbon and oak up front yielding quickly to those blueberries which take over from there, a slight fruit tartness lingers in the finish. The Märzen base is certainly there, but it's clearly taking a backseat to blueberries and bourbon. Mouthfeel is full bodied and rich, plenty of carbonation, a little fruity acidity in the finish to cut through the heaviness, but still a sipping beer. I don't generally think of an Oktoberfest (even an imperialized one) as having the body to carry a barrel aging treatment, but this is really well done. Maybe we should see more of this. Overall, this works better than expected, quite tasty! B+

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV bottled (22 ounce blue waxed bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 9/11/15. Vintage: 2015.

I feel like this is a more successful barrel treatment than BBA Leon and I found it really enjoyable (I would like to try a non-blueberry version though, that tart note works fine here, but it might be even better without that...) Next, I need to get my hands on, well, pretty much all of their other barrel aged treatments... and I'm sure a Punkless Dunkel will make its way into my house this season as well (even if you're not a big pumpkin beer person, that one's worth trying).

Now that the Fermentaria is open, it's getting difficult to keep up with the sheer variety of awesome emanating from the fine brewers at Tired Hands. I still hit up one location or another pretty often, but the small batch style simply yields a lot of new brews. Also, I'm getting more and more lazy about writing down any sort of notes on the beer I'm having, which means it's getting difficult to even remember what I've had. Still, I manage to squirrel away some notes every now and again, so I might as well append them to the more detailed tasting notes on two highly prized bottles.

First up is Parageusia5, a Cabernet Franc barrel-fermented Ale, aged for approximately 12 months. This is a prized line of sours, and this one takes a distinctly more Flandersy take than previous Parageusias, and while it doesn't quite live up to the hallowed realms of the first few iterations, it's pretty darned fantastic. This quote accompanies the beer:

"Trigeminal prisim on a sunny hillside. Will you engage indefinitely?" - Christian Zellersfield

I can kinda, sorta parse that, and my answer is yes. I will engage indefinitely. Or I would, but I only had this one bottle:

Tired Hands Parageusia5 - Pours a very dark, clear amber color, very pretty when held up to light, with a finger of off white head that sticks around for a bit. Smells of vinous fruit, cherries, oak, and acetic sourness, kinda Flandersy. Taste starts rich and sweet, cherries and oak followed by a bit of acetic sourness, vinegar, vinous fruit, finishing on that sour note. Mouthfeel is full and rich up front, but less so towards the finish, moderate sourness and acidity, reasonably well carbonated. Overall, doesn't quite compare to the initial Parageusia offerings, but is pretty impressive in its own right. Also: match with dark chocolate. Delicious. A-

Beer Nerd Details: Squiggle, Squiggle ABV bottled (500 ml waxed cap, no ABV listed, just various squiggles and tentacled creatures on the label). Drank out of a flute glass on 9/6/15.

Next we have one of them swanky beer and music collaborations, in this case it's jazz musician Mike Lorenz, who released an album of Black Sabbath and Nirvana covers along with this beer (Jean provided the art for the album, git that vinyl while it's still around), Scentless And Senseless. Lorenz is a fixture at Tired Hands, playing a show once a week and sometimes humoring the beer nerd masses during bottle releases. This beer is an oak fermented Saison dry hopped with Equinox and Mosaic, right up my alley:

Tired Hands Scentless And Senseless - Pours a very pale, cloudy straw yellow color with a finger of white head. Smell definitely has that foudre thing going on, a little oak and vanilla, big citrus aromas too, partly from the funk, partly from hops. Taste hits again with that foudre character pretty hard, dry oak, vanilla, some citrusy fruit in the middle, just a bit of tartness, followed by some earthy funk in the finish. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, light body, hints of sourness, some very dry character happening, right up front too. Overall, a step up from the previously released foudre bottle (Astral Plane), and pretty delicious in its own right. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6.6% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a flute glass on 9/12/15.

Dudholio - 4.5% ABV maize saison with motueka and Brett - Great little saison, light Brett feel, moderate fruity hops, and well carbed, really enjoying this! A-

Milkshake IPA - 7.4% ABV blackberry and blueberry IPA brewed with lactose sugar and Mosaic and Citra hops - So a while back one of the "Bros." from BeerAdvocate published a review of a cloudy pour of HopHands and called it a mess (the Bros. have a bug up their arse about beer clarity, I guess), saying literally "Milkshake beers are not a trend or acceptable with modern styles... No excuses." In response, Jean and crew have put together a series of "Milkshake" IPAs (that actually use lactose and are also generally cloudy beers); as usual, it's a fun way to respond to criticism. Anywho, this was a great Tired Hands style IPA, juicy fruit, fuller bodied than normal but velvety smooth, great! A

Hissing at Snakes - 7.5% ABV Rye IPA - Simcoe, Amarillo, and Nelson Sauvin, typically great TH IPA with a spicy rye kick, really nice! A-

Neutral Impulse From The Visual Cortex - 6.2% ABV IPA - Nice citrus hops and a surprising honey note, almost creamy mouthfeel... B+

Expansive Vestibule - 6.1% ABV sturdy Porter - Nice nose, dark chocolate and vanilla, with a more roasty taste and a relatively light body... B+

Einsteinium - 5% ABV hoppy sour - Not a huge fan of hoppy sours in general, though this is working just fine... B

Rutilant - 5.9% ABV Nelson Sauvin & Simcoe IPA - Beautiful little IPA, typical Tired Hands stuff but with significantly more carbonation, really nice... (IIRC this is one of the first beers I had at the Fermentaria, which seems to have a different carbonation profile) A-

Temporary Shape of My Own Person - 5.2% ABV Grissette - Like a slightly tart version of a typical th saison, crisp and light, refreshing summer drinking... B+

Vaporizer - 6.8% ABV IPA - Ah, now this is a typical TH IPA , bright, juicy citrus hops, something a little more on the green, grassy, floral hop side as well. Nice! B+ or A-

I'm Sad - 8.5% ABV imperial honey coffee Porter - Interesting interplay between the honey and coffee, both are there, but the combo sorta works for me, despite not particularly liking either honey or coffee! B

Can't Keep Up 23 - 5% ABV blended sour saison - Whoa cucumbers, blend of HandFarm, Parageusia, and Saisonhands conditioned on lemon, cucumber and agave nectar, tasty! Have liked other Can't Keep Up beers better, but this is nice. B+

Slowly Rotating Mass With Bright Lights - 5.2% ABV crushable pineapple IPA - Solid IPA, delicious and juicy, very light and quaffable, A-

Rigel - 6.8% Rye India Black Ale - This is all I wrote about this beer, and yeah, I don't really remember anything about it, though I'm guessing that means it didn't melt my face (nor did it make me do a spit take in disgust).

Fripp - 4.5% ABV American Bitter - Very nice bitter base with sweeter, more citrusy hop character, quaffable in the extreme! B+

Honey, I Love You - 5.8% ABV Honey Saison - Beautiful little saison here, nice citrus and spice character, a little oak and tartness in the finish... Foudre beer starting to come into its own. Delicious! A-

Avoiding Purgatory #1 - 6.6% ABV India Black Ale - Hrm, surprisingly muted hops and roasted malt here, one of those IBAs that makes me wish I was drinking an IPA or Stout instead of this quasi hybrid. Lack of roast probably has to do with the use of debittered black malt, but the hops (lemon drop and centennial) aren't doing the trick... Not really bad, to be sure, but TH has done much better in this realm! B

Yup - 5.1% ABV hoppy blonde ale - Amazing citrus nose, lemons and tropical fruit, tasty stuff! B+

Nope - 4.2% ABV dry stout - Polar opposite of Yup, dark, roasty, earthy goodness. B+

Rob "Strawberry" Berliner - 6% ABV strawberry Berliner Weisse - Very nice, lots of ripe, tart strawberry goodness, very well balanced, delicious. A-

Wound - 7.3% oat IPA - Awesome, back to basics Tired Hands style IPA, citrusy and floral, delicious! A-

Calm - 4.2% crushable IPA - Nice light pale ale, quaffable and refreshing. B+

Tuff Leather - 1.5% table saison - Whoa, beer nerd lite beer, nice carbonation profile, grassy, bready, a little watery, but not in a bad way for what this is... Very impressive for such a low ABV beer. B+

It's Okay - 7.6% ABV IPA - Nice IPA, sweeter than normal, lots of citrus, hints of dank pine, more body than normal, but really good stuff here... B+

Yellow & Green - 5.6% ABV dry hopped Pilsner - Dry hopped with Ella and Helga, 2 hops I've never heard of before! Earthy, grassy, floral, with enough citrus to take it away from traditional pils profile, nice! B+

Perfectly Preserved Brain - 8.2% ABV English Smoked Barleywine - Moar earthy than expected, sweet, slightly burnt bread, interesting, but not amazing.. B

Lambos & Mansions - 4.8% ABV crushable Galaxy IPA - Nice citrus hop character, dry, quaffable stuff, very nice! B+

Fuzzy Yellow - 6.3% ABV local peach IPA - Typically solid th IPA, citrusy, balanced, tasty! B+

Petalite Songbird - 5.2% ABV gooseberry saison - Whoa, was not expecting the tart, fruity funk on this, really nice, looks like Emptiness culture stuff, which explains it. Great stuff... A-

Minnow - 8% ABV DIPA - Nelson Sauvin & Citra Very nice, sweet, delicious, juicy, almost vinous stuff. A-

Kuro - 5.5% lime leaf schwarzbier - Muted black malt, burnt sugar, something bright, very nice! B+

Pathway of Beauty - 6.8% ABV Citra IPA - Holy hell, this is amazing, juicy hops, compulsively quaffable, delicious IPA, a kinda successor to Psychic Facelift (one of my favorite TH IPAs of all time)... A

Freedom from the Known

Freedom from The Known - 7.2% ABV Cherry saison - Whoa, this is the most cherry I've ever gotten out of a beer, ever. Sometimes cherry flavors in beer are overwhelmed by other elements, but not at all here. Cherries are the star. Kind of like a cherry version of Peche 'n Brett. Amazing, tart, delicious, a little oak mellows things out, dryish, great stuff. A

Mosaic MagoTago - 7% Mango IPA - An interesting twist on the standard Simcoe Mago, beautiful juicy citrus IPA. Hard to believe this was on at the same time as regular Mago, Pathway of Beauty and Freedom from the Known. An embarrassment of riches at the Fermentaria! A

FunnieDuddie - 6.5% ABV Nelson Sauvin and Simcoe IPA - Typically good th IPA, but damn, this suffers from the comparison to the rest of the tap list right now. B+?

Yellow Fog - 3.7% cucumber Berliner wieise - Really nice, cucumber comes through well, still a nice tart beer, tasty! B

Lychee Milkshake IPA - 7.2% IPA made with lactose sugar, lychee purée, vanilla, and citra/Mosaic hops - Sweet and juicy, lots of citrus, almost rich, full bodied mouthfeel... Great! A-

Phew, that covers about 6-8 months of visits to Tired Hands, and honestly, I probably missed a few things. Indeed! I forgot to mention that the latest couple batches of SaisonHands, Tired Hands' flagship saison (and one of two beers that is almost always available) that used to be a rock solid standard-approach saison, but now spends time in the foudre and wow! You can really tell, this beer has changed a ton since the Fermentaria opened, and it's pretty amazing that it's this regularly available. This is the sort of thing that keeps me coming back (also the potential for that one night they had MagoTago, Pathway to Beauty, and Freedom from the Known on tap, seriously astounding).

We're big fans of Almanac Brewing's Farm to Barrel series of beers here at Kaedrin, but they also have a flagship line of fresh beers that are regularly available, like this dry-hopped, multi-grain saison named after landmarks (Dolores Park?) in the Mission District of San Francisco (not, as originally thought, that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry can't remember his girlfriend's name. Mental note: I should brew a beer called "Saison Mulva" sometime.)

The dry-hopped saison field is pretty crowded though, with stuff like Firestone Walker Opal, Off Color Apex Predator, and even the staid, old-school Belgian brewers getting into the game with Saison Dupont Cuvée Dry Hopping, all widely available (and all fantastic). That's before getting to micro-distroed (is that a thing? Is now!) wonders like Hill Farmstead Dorothy or Tired Hands Shambolic. This is some stiff competition, so let's shuffle on down Dolores Street to see how this one compares:

Almanac Saison Dolores - Pours a cloudy golden yellow color with a few fingers of fluffy white head. Smell has a very nice grassy hop aroma mixed with some musty Belgian yeast spice and esters... Taste has a light spicy note, some fruity esters, and then those grassy hops kick in towards the finish. As it warms, it evolves into a more spicy, peppery character, rather tasty. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, crisp, and effervescent, quite dry, a great match for food. Overall, it's a rock solid, standard saison that will stand up to most in that particular arena. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 6.8% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a flute glass on 8/29/15.

Many thanks to Jay of of the right excellent Beer Samizdat for sending this to me (and if I recall, introducing me to Almanac in the first place, way back when). It's certainly on the same field as its competition and if these fellas were local, I could see cracking one of these every so often (just like I order up a glass of Shambolic every so often at Tired Hands), even if I find the Farm to Barrel series more eye-popping. Speaking of which, two of those in the pipeline, so keep an eye out (or, you know, protect them from the eye-popping awesomeness of those beers).

Lots of cities can claim greatness as a beer consumption destination, but when you start talking about stuff like breweries per capita, things seem to narrow down pretty quickly. Asheville, North Carolina claims to have the most (21 breweries in the area), but I suspect that Portland (or Bend), Oregon has them beat on other measures. Regardless, many of these breweries are small, brewpubby affairs that really only service the local markets. Seems like a cool place to visit, but I'll have to make due with muled bottles for now.

Wicked Weed is actually one of the newer breweries in Asheville, but they've pretty quickly established a name for themselves thanks to their experiments with funky and barrel aged beers. Their name is a historical reference to a (probably apocryphal) quote attributed to King Henry VIII: "Hops are a wicked and pernicious weed." (Update: As per usual, Martyn has the skinny) My only experience with these guys was an allegedly funky saison that turned out to be crumulent, but a little more bland than one would expect. This particular bottle bills itself as a sour red aleaged with blackberries and dates in red wine barrels for approximately 8-10 months. Promising.

There's great label art of a spelunker confronting a bunch of jellyfish-like creatures and an accompanying narrative, both of which make me want to reference Metroid in some way, but the details are just not aligning well enough to support such nerdery. Of course, it's what's inside the bottle that counts, and I would speculate that Samus would enjoy a bottle of Oblivion (I presume all bounty hunters have decent taste in beer):

Wicked Weed Oblivion Sour Red - Pours a dark amber brown color with a finger of white head. Smells great, lots of oak and vanilla, berries like cherry and raspberry, and that sour twang. Taste is very nice, lots of tart berry flavors with an oak backbone, moderate acetic sourness emerging throughout the taste through the finish. Mouthfeel is rich and medium bodied, moderate acidity, slight booziness. Overall, solid sour red stuff here! B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8.7% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a flute glass on 8/22/15. Bottled 4.3.15.

Certainly a big improvement over my first Wicked Weed beer, and I have another sour lined up from them as well. Road trip to Asheville? Not on the immediate horizon, but it seems worth considering...