Short's / Half Acre "Freedom of '78"

Style: American IPA w/ Pure Guava

Description: "The style is a Guava India Pale Ale, brewed with 1000 lbs of actual guava fruit. We're aiming for an IPA that's kind of outlandish, much like the inspiration."

Brewery: Short's & Half Acre

Package: Bottle into Half Acre pint glass

ABV: 7%

Aroma: Intense hop aroma of pine and citrus, with hints of guava. Sweet caramel backbone, with a faint and undetermined spiciness. 

Appearance: Crystal clear golden color with a thin white head that dissipates quickly. 

Taste: Slightly tart and fruity, with hoppy and citrus undertones. Guava is quite pronounced and even a tad funky in the taste with a bit of lime showing through. Lightly balanced with sweet, caramel malt. No presence of alcohol detected.

Mouthfeel: Fairly light, crisp and dry with moderate carbonation. Mild bitterness to me, which likely means it's higher on the IBU scale - I would guess around 75-85.  

Overall: Definitely a unique beer, which I would expect from something coming from Short's. Honestly, I think the guava ruins what would actually be a pretty good AIPA. The hops shine through a bit, giving me hints of what it might otherwise be. A bit more dry than I like my IPAs, but not by much. This was a fun one to try, but I'm glad I didn't buy an entire 6 pack. 

Notes: Got this one at Crocker's in Niles, MI. Beers from Short's are bottle conditioned, therefore they are also supposed to be stored in a cooler. For whatever reason, this store chooses to ignore that, and puts most of their Short's beer on the shelves. Mad props to them for letting me make a 6 pack out of 3 different Short's brews. 


Grade: B

Massive Labels Update

As is wont to happen, there was quite a dry spell for new, local, and interesting labels and then suddenly - BOOM! - there have been loads recently. Lots of stuff to look forward to. Sit tight for this massive update.

All labels are for 12oz bottles unless otherwise noted.

Founders Curmudgeon's Better Half - 11.9% Old Ale brewed with molasses and aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels. 750ml bottle. You may already know the deal with this one, but it's rumored to be what was previously known as "Kaiser Curmudgeon" and is likely the next release in the Backstage Series expected to arrive after the first of the year.

Half Acre Big Hugs - 9.5% Imperial Stout. 22oz bottle. A once a year limited release. May be a very small amount end up on Chicagoland shelves, but if you happen to live, or be in, Chicago on December 18th, you might want to stop by their brewery and snag some.

Founders All Day - 4.7% India Pale Ale. Keg collar. Mainly had to post this for Andy because of all the great things he's told me about it, specifically that it's a sessionable, incredibly flavorful IPA. Founders has said this might begin to be bottled sometime in 2012.

Sun King Wee Muckle - 9% Scotch Ale. 16oz can. Winning gold at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival in the Scotch Ale category, Sun King has decided to package this brew into their trademark tallboy cans.

Short's Pontius Road Pilsner - 4.7% Czech Pilsner. Previously only available at the Short's pub in Bellaire, MI, Pontius Road is now making its way to bottles.

Bell's Harvest Ale - 750ml bottle. Seems to be a fresh hop/wet hop/harvest style IPA of unknown ABV, at least to this blogger. Probably, and unfortunately, will be a Kalamazoo release only, but as you can tell from the previous sentence, I couldn't find much about it. Sure would like to get my hands on a bottle though.

Brewery Vivant Kludde - 9.5% Belgian Style Dark Ale. 16oz can. From the makers of what is likely America's first canned Belgian IPA, Triomphe, comes Kludde, a canned Belgian Style Dark Ale.

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale - 4.4% Wheat. 12oz can. It's 312... IN A CAN! (You may now return to your regular hating of GI, AB/InBev, United, etc.)

New Albanian Bonfire of the Valkyries - 6% Smoked Black Lager. 22oz bottle. I'll confess to not knowing much about New Albanian or ever having any of their beers, but damn, they do have some really kick-ass labels. This is an update to an existing brand.

New Albanian Solidarity - 8.5% Baltic Porter. 22oz bottle. Again, update to an existing New Albanian brand.

Arcadia Ales Sky High Rye - 6% Rye Pale Ale. 12oz can. Sky High Rye is the second canned brew from the Battle Creek, MI brewery after Whitsun debuted earlier this year.

Three Floyds Live A Rich Life - 8.7% Belgian Style Double India Pale Ale. 22oz bottle. Similar to the Founders Curmudgeon's Better Half name change, it appears this is actually Shark Pants - which I might interject probably has the coolest label that I don't think actually appeared on a bottle - re-branded. The rumor mill was grinding out theories that FFF might have had to change the label due to issues with the original's artist.

Avery Trogdor the Burninator - 7.6% Smoked Doppelbock. Keg collar. Why would I put a simple keg collar from a brewery in Boulder, CO that we'll probably not see around these parts? First, Avery puts out some quality products and you can usually find some in Michigan. (They pulled out of Indiana earlier this year.) Second, because they named this beer after one of the Internet's earlier and greater cartoons/memes. Apparently they brewed this as a one-off in the past and are now bringing it back for a second round. Never heard of Trogdor? Do yourself a favor and waste the rest of your day watching Strong Bad.