Belt’s Beer Garden: Just Peachy

Today I have a few brews with tropical fruits added.

Up first, to fit the name of “Just Peachy” let’s start with an imperial peach IPA from Odell.

Odell is one of the older names in brewing, beginning in Fort Collins, Colorado way back in 1989. Today they are available in 15 states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, both Dakotas, Texas, and Wyoming) and have two taprooms in Colorado.

Surprisingly, this is only their second appearance on BBG, and first since 2017! Today I have one of their seasonal brews – Tree Shaker, an imperial IPA brewed with peaches. It comes in six-packs that cost a tad bit more, at $14, but each of the 12-ounce cans has a very solid 8% ABV and a mere 48 IBU.

Tree Shaker poured a super bright copper color with about a finger and a half of sticky white head topping the brew. The foam begins to fade rather quickly until nothing more than a thin line is left atop the beer but it does leave some nice lacing as it descends.

On the nose, this brew had a nice balance between hops and malts. Big notes of pine and citrus powered the hops, while the malts add a strong bready quality. The peaches seemed to get lost in the aroma. There were hints of the tree fruit but, for the most part, the other scents seemed to well overpower the peaches.

The first sip began with some very light carbonation and an almost immediate zap of bitterness at the back of my tongue.

That bitter shock quickly faded away and everything else seemed to hit at once. The beer was just as balanced in its taste as it was the smell…but seemed surprisingly blended together on most sips with nothing ever really taking the lead.

Citrus notes of peach, grapefruit, and orange would occasionally burst through on some swigs, leaving the malts well behind but, on others it was a muddled mixture of bready malt, some caramel, and a mass of both citrus and piney hop characteristics. The blend wasn’t bad by any means, it actually made this imperial brew rather easy to drink (up front at least).

However, I wish more of the peach would have come out…the peaches were very faint and, instead, it seemed like the hops just added subtle notes of peach, rather than the brewers purposely adding barrels of them into the mix.

Even though the flavor from the peach was muted, the fruit and malts added a very nice, but subtle, sweetness towards the middle of the taste.

The backend of the sip was completely dominated by hops though. After that nice sweet flavor, a sharp sting of hoppy bitterness and pine hit my taste buds but very quickly vanished. It was a complete departure from the rest of the flavors and was a quick reminder that this was a DIPA first and foremost.

Even with that final blast of hops though, Tree Shaker ended cleanly. There was a light dryness and slightly sticky resin that coated my tongue but no flavors (or bitterness) lingered on afterwards at all.

The 8% ABV was hidden well and never seen from or heard during the entire can. This was a very easy to drink imperial and makes me wish it was available year-round. I do wish the peach flavor came out more but, other than that, Tree Shaker is a well-made, very balanced IPA.

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Up next, a brewery from rural Wisconsin that just started distributing in my area.

Hacienda Beer Co. is an offshoot of Door County Brewing Company. Founded in 2017, they have a limited distribution still – just their taproom in Bailey’s Harbor, WI, these bottle shops throughout Wisconsin, and a few places in the Milwaukee and Chicagoland areas.

They want to brew “beer tied to a time and place, inspired by our local heritage, but with a focus on experimentation” and normally on a very limited scale, although some will get a wider release.

Today I have one of those brews available outside of their taproom – The Floor is Guava.

The Floor is Guava is a milkshake IPA was brewed with oats, Azacca and El Dorado hops, lactose, and loads of pink guava. It comes in four-packs of cans that costs $13, with each can containing a moderate level of alcohol at 6.5%.

It poured a super hazy straw color with very little head ever building up. No more than half a finger of white foam topped the beer and, within a minute or so, all that remained was a razor thin line around the edge of the glass.

TFIG had a really nice aroma to it. First there was the sugary milkshake quality from the lactose which was enhanced by a slight oaty scent. The fruit and hops added plenty of juicy goodness as well, with guava standing out most, of course, but other tropical/citrus fruits could also be found hiding behind the guava.

My first taste started off with that thicker, creamy mouthfeel and a moderate prickle of carbonation that hums for quite some time underneath it all.

Immediately the guava hits with some tartness but it doesn’t last long as the lactose and oats come in a few moments later and smooth everything out with a sweetness that coats my entire tongue.

From there the hop come out. A dash of bitterness hits the back of my tongue but brings with it some grapefruit rind, pineapple, and mango that begin to blend in nicely with the guava.

The next few moments are filled with a barrage of fruit juices and lactose sugary sweetness before the brew finally starts to fade out.

As it begins to end, the hops once again take center stage with a heavy-handed dose of grapefruit peel and some more bitterness. TFIG then ends with a moderate dryness and a sticky feeling that lingers for a few moments after.

The stickiness gets worse after each continual sip so a water break was deemed necessary a few times throughout the pint.

Overall, this was a good brew. It had a bit more bitterness than most milkshake IPAs and wasn’t nearly as sweet or creamy as others in the style but it was still a solid IPA. Instead of a milkshake IPA it was more of a regular IPA that happened to be infused with fruit and lactose.