Overall 4/5
AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
AdamChandler (3967) – Enfield, New Hampshire, USA – DEC 20, 2015
375ML Bottle acquired @ Hill Farmstead 2 weeks ago. Stored @ fridge temp and poured carefully into a single stemmed glass.
A – Very faint CO2 sound when the cap was popped. No head formed on the pour. The beer itself is nothing short of beautiful. It’s the most blood red, gorgeous beer that seems to be a trifecta culmination of 3 fruits that home brewers know make beautiful beers. Blueberry seems to be the dominant coloring agent.
S – It certainly smells like Flora. Wine barrel, acid, tannins, oak, grapes, a hint of mint and a bursting bouquet of fruits.
T – The taste itself, it’s overloaded with fruit. Raspberry is up front with a sharp acidic currant at the finish. Blueberry unsurprisingly is not blossoming but that’s standard for blueberry beers. Good tartness with being overwhelming but the base beer’s flavor doesn’t appear to be blowing up in a huge way. It’s rather consistently tart and complimentary to the fruits.
M – Mouthfeel is thin, there’s some faint carbonation which almost certainly will increase with time and I certainly will be patient and allow this beer to keep carbonating in the bottle for another year or two.
O – This beer is fantastic but it also has this interesting identity crisis with so many fruits all fighting for attention and a lower carb that is very much not like any other iteration of Flora. Still, fantastic but if you’re trading for this to split it 10 ways, don’t. It’s a 2-person bottle at most. It really needs to be enjoyed as it warms and opens up.
