Belt’s Beer Garden: 600th Beer!!

After starting this segment all the way back in October of 2014, reaching the 500th beer back in November of 2019, and surviving a crazy 2020, Belt’s Beer Garden has hit another milestone…

600 BEERS!!!

Over the course of these seven years/600 beers, I’ve featured 388 different breweries from 49 states and 13 other countries. West Virginia is the only state that I have yet to feature on BBG (spoiler alert: I’m going there next week so that will soon change!).

And today, for #600, I have decided to feature a beer from a brewery that deserves all the accolades - Weathered Souls.

Weathered Souls Brewing Co. began in San Antonio, Texas back in 2016. Last year they took center stage of the beer-world when co-founder Marcus Baskerville began one of the biggest collaboration projects ever: Black is Beautiful.

But in 2020 Black is Beautiful didn’t just spread across the country, it spread around the world. The beer has since been made by more than 1200 breweries from all 50 states and even in 22 different countries.

Living up north I haven’t had too many chances to try Weathered Souls but, when I saw one of their beers was available near me, I knew I had to snatch it up.

I recently found their DDH Who’s Got the Juice Now, a New England IPA brewed with Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, and Vic Secret hops. The pint features a 7.2% ABV, has a moderate 35 IBU, and each can cost $6.50. It was packaged on June 23rd and this review was written on August 15th.

This brew poured a super cloudy, slightly darker orange color with just about a finger of head building up. The foam sticks around for quite a while and, when it does dissipate, it leaves a nice lacing around the glass.

It’s packed with tropical and citrus fruit aromas. Leading the way is some zippy pineapple with papaya, mango, orange and lemon zest following closely behind. There are some cereal-like notes of flaked wheat and oat behind the hops that gives it a slightly softer but heavier quality to the smell.

My first sip began with a small flash of carbonation before the hops began to shine. Right off the bat there is a pillowy soft/creamy quality that seems to expand, covering the entire mouth and hitting my taste buds with a light pineapple acidity and some pithy notes of citrus rind.

The pineapple flavor leads the way for the majority of the sip with all the other flavor profiles just peaking through every so often just to say hello. Notes of zesty lemon, papaya, and mango are the most noticeable from the hops while the grist adds some heavy malted notes of wheat.

There is a tiny prickle of hoppy bitterness but it’s very subtle and quickly washed away by the other flavors.

When the beer finishes, it ends insanely clean. There is no dryness. No sticky feeling. No aftertaste. It just ends. And that made this hazy IPA dangerously sessionable.

DDH Who’s Got the Juice Now is a very easy drinking brew. It’s not nearly as juicy as some New England IPAs, as the malt backing is pretty noticeable, and the beer does sit on the heavier side of things but it’s still a very tasty brew.