Weird Beard: Sorachi Face Plant (England: IIPA: 8.1% ABV)
Visual: Hazy caramel brown, large off white head.
Nose: Musky. Pine cones and lemon grass. Bready. Dried apricot. Thick and malty, with toffee most emphasised. Resin. Good bitterness and hops.
Body: Dill pickle. Lemongrass. Hop prickle. Key lime. Good bitterness. Bubblegum. Toffee malt character. tangerine. Kiwi.
Finish: Good bitterness. Popcorn. Dill pickle. Good hops. Toffee. Tangerine.
Conclusion: Sorachi Ace beers should never be anything approaching normal. It should be the scary clown of hops, but unlike a clown it should have you entertained and joyful as you shit yourself in terror. So, nothing like a clown then. I should pick a different simile. Anyway…
This has a wonderfully mental hop character, lemongrass, prickly dill pickle, dried apricot, big bitterness and subtle bubblegum. It is a crazy ride of expressive flavours that run through bitter, tart and sour. Possibly umami (or however it is spelt) for all I know. Ok, I have no idea on umami, but definitely those other ones.
The malt base is toffee sweet, a bit of tangerine sweetness as well – which I think may be part hop part malt interaction. As an IIPA, it has a much sweeter base than most Sorachi Ace beers I have had and it creates a very nice contrast. In accordance with the prophecy.
It is probably up there with IPA Is Dead for my favorite use of the hop. This has a stronger malt base backing it, so isn’t quite as pure hop expression, but makes for a beer that is broader in range (also I think it uses other hops as well, but Sorachi is definitely the star)
It is a genuine hop marvel – very solid sweet malt base, still big bitter and full madcap flavor. A definite go to for your sorachi ace infusion.
Background: I love Sorachi Ace. Like seriously love Sorachi Ace. So when the people at Independent Spirit mentioned this was good beer, all my willpower to not buy new beers until I had cleared out the cupboard a tad – well that just vanished. Anyway, drunk while listening to some Svalbard - a local metal band, their stuff is up for streaming so check them out.
