Belt’s Beer Garden: Drowned Out

I love finding breweries that I’ve never tried before. Today that happened when I saw a can from The Drowned Lands.

The Drowned Lands is a “farm brewery founded as a homage to the dirt on which it is built” that focuses on Farmhouse and Table Beer, as well as hoppy and sessionable selections. They’re located in Warwick, New York - a smaller village of ~6500 near the New Jersey border, about 55 miles northwest of NYC.

When I had the chance to snag a few of their beers I jumped at the opportunity. And, today, I have their Green Yield, a New England-style India Pale Ale.

This unfiltered, hazy IPA features a grain bill of Pilsner malt, wheat, and oats. But, as for the hops, I can’t be certain. The can says it’s Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe but their website claims it has a hop profile featuring Amarillo, Cascade, Citra, and Simcoe…so not sure which to go by. Either way, it sounds great. Each can has a solid 7.2% ABV and costs around $7.

Green Yield poured a murky straw color with some nice orange hues to it and a massive amount of head building up. More than two fingers of dense, offwhite foam topped the beer and slowly fizzled away. The receding head laced the glass nicely with a complex webbing of bubbles on the way down.

The aroma was super tropical and heavy, with a decent flaked grain backing. Dank notes of peach, orange, grapefruit, and melon were all quite noticeable in the scent. The flaked wheat and oats gave off a slight cereal-like quality and sweetened the brew even more.

My first sip began with a slow building mouthfeel that seemed to expand as it went on, encapsulating my entire mouth with a creamy, heavier body. There was also a slight hoppy bite that was accompanied by notes of peach and honeydew up front.

From that slower start, the flavors began to bloom, with pockets of tangerine, peach, and lemon popping up here and there in a coordinated juicy attack on my taste buds.

The grist stays out of the way and lets the hops do all the talking, only appearing in a handful of sips with the oaty characteristic peeking through most often in the background.

Around the midway point of the sip, the honeydew really explodes. It’s an insanely juicy burst of melon and peach that washes away everything prior to it…bitterness and all.

However, once that wave of melon subsides, there is a dryness that is left lingering on. Like the tide subsiding on the coast, my tongue became quite dry from the receding melon-ous pop.

And that’s how the beer ends - quite dry but with no lingering aftertaste. But, despite that dryness, the flavors of the beer are absolutely delightful and I cannot wait to go back for more. And, shockingly, for how thick and creamy the beer is, it is not a heavy beer. Some of these brews can be so thick that you’re full halfway through a pint. Well…not here. It’s heavy up front but sits nice and light, making it rather crushable.

Overall, Green Yield is big on tropical fruit flavors with the only downfall being a rather dry finish. It’s my first foray with The Drowned Lands but it certainly won’t be my last. This beer is absolutely delicious. A well made hazy IPA.