Friday Night Brew
So it’s Friday and that means since about noon, we’ve been scoping out the BeerInBaltimore.com ‘fridge and contemplating which of our fave beers we’d enjoy tonight.
Tonight’s brew of choice:
Mmm, smooth and hoppy
Southern Tier’s Unearthly.
If we had to choose our absolute favorite brewery in the U.S., Southern Tier would be our #1b to Stone Brewing’s 1a. They’re just that good. I can’t name a brew from Southern Tier that I wasn’t blown away by. And since we’ll likely cover many more of Southern Tier’s selection, we won’t spoil the rest of them in this post. But let’s just say there are at least 3 other ST brews that we might even enjoy better than this Unearthly. And that’s saying something.
This one pours a beautiful golden amber with a decent white head. Thick lacing on the inside of my snifter as this one starts to go down.
Southern Tier brews usually aren’t known for their aroma. But the Unearthly certainly has a fresh, crisp, citrusy-pine smell.
What Southern Tier beers are known for are their big, bold flavor. An exploding taste of floral hops here, with a hint of citrus and easily detectable amounts of sugary malt; all helping this become an exciting, complex brew. I’m really enjoying the rich, malty backbone of this beer which is balancing out the abundance of hops. Fairly balanced.
Like any good Imperial Pale Ale (technically a Double IPA), the hops are a tad overpowering at first but like mentioned above, are mellowed out by the malt. The finish here starts off like it’s going to be bitter… but just isn’t. The mouthfeel is fantastic. Tons of great flavors and even a bit spicy, but not overly and lingers really nicely. This one finishes more sweet than anything.
At 11.0% ABV, the Unearthly is a surprisingly (and dangerously) drinkable beer. I still can’t believe this is 11.0%. It just goes down too easy. And for the record, I’d rather have a Southern Tier IPA over any IPA from Dogfish Head. Just figured I’d mention that, since DFH is known primarily for their IPA’s. But the folks @ Southern Tier miiight just do it better.
Unearthly from Southern Tier is definitely a beer to be savored. Highly recommended, as most of the beers we cover on this site will be, since we tend to stay away from anything but great beer! One of the better Imperial Pale Ales out there. Anyone else a fan? Let us know by dropping a comment!
Cheers.
Even the label is a thing of beauty
