Little Sumpin' WILD Ale

Thanks goes out to Josh Schipp for picking up this beer from Hyvee this afternoon. I got around to enjoying it in the evening after a day spent at Joe Wietlispach for a homebrewery tour food and football. Definitely a beer to round out a great weekend with!

Appearance: Golden straw in color and pristinely clear. As I noticed there weren't any dregs at the bottom of the bottle, the beer was almost certainly well filtered or pasteurized of all life. The head is styrafoamy and white only to slowly dissipate into a clumped film with a sticky wet lacing on the sides. Carbonaton is well presented with bubbles streaming up in single file from random etches in the glass.
Aroma: There is a faint goaty (Belgian-oriented) yeast smell about this beer, but overall it is well masked by a large apricot and floral hop complexity. Citrus is highly apparent with a juicy splash of esters that potentially cover all facets of the spectrum. Subtle clove phenols emerge as the beer warms.
Taste: Wow! what a complex flavor. There starts with a rush of fruity sweetness, complemented with a gushing hop element of un-paralleled citrus and tropical fruit (passion fruit, peaches). This is certainly one of the best constructed bittered fruity oriented beers I've come across. Very subtle cloviness along with a bready malt flavor emerge as the beer warms. Minute notes of bubblegum. Nevertheless the hops are the main attraction here. The mustiness that was present in the aroma is hardly present in the flavor, but this could be because the finish rounds out in a overwhelming orange rind bitterness. To go along with all this, the alcohol plays a perfect role in both rounding the flavor and cleansing the palate, all the while warming the chest.
Mouthfeel: Lighter bodied with a swift bubbly carbonation that provides a zip to the top of the tongue. The finish is left extremely dry and even a hop resin is left behind especially on the lips and tongue
Overall Impression: This is a fantastic beer. The complexity is just overwhelming, and covers so many flavors, one person alone could not account for them. Fruits and tartness with an enormous hop character with innumerable pine and ester related qualities. Certainly a beer to pick up!


94/100