Belt’s Beer Garden: Say Uncle!

Stonecloud Brewing has been serving up the citizens of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for five years now, opening their doors in the summer of 2017. Housed in a massive old warehouse built in 1929, the brewery has a 30 bbl brewing system as well as two taproom spaces!

But it took years of hard work to get to this point. After finding the space without a roof, and with trees growing inside, they learned it had been vacated since the 1980’s. But Stonecloud was not deterred. They were able to complete a full historic preservation of it and have since even gotten their building on the National Historic Registry.

As cool as that is…I’m really looking forward to trying today’s beer. For my first Stonecloud beer, I have one of their one-off beers that sounds amazing - Uncle Slam.

This hazy IPA is brewed with Cashmere, Citra, and Idaho 7 hops (three of my favorites) and has a 6.5% ABV. It was canned on June 30th and would have been the perfect beer for 4th of July but, sadly, I snagged my can a month late for that. Oh well…the beer is still saying “I want YOU….to drink me!”, so I’ll gladly oblige.

Pouring a murky golden orange color, Uncle Slam had about half a finger of bright white head that built up. The foam quickly disappeared into a razor thin ring around the edge of the glass with a thin cloud covering the entire top of the beer.

The aroma was a mixture of tropical fruits and floral notes with a solid grist backing. Upfront it was creamy orange/tangerine, pineapple, and some pithy grapefruit with just a hint of melon. Behind the fruit there was a light flaked wheat characteristic that gave off some cereal-like qualities and added to the sweetness of the smell.

Each sip began with a soft and pillowy mouthfeel that seemed to expand as the sip progressed. There was a tiny rush of carbonation but, otherwise, the flavors began to pop almost immediately.

Hitting first were some hoppy notes of pineapple and grapefruit. The grapefruit brought a slightly dry resinous feeling while the hops added a bitter twinge (it wasn’t too bad though). The tangerine was more reserved and didn’t come out on every swig but, when it did make an appearance, it brought a massive juicy pop of sweet orange juice.

On the backend, the flavors turned from juicy/fruity to more earthy and dry. There were more notes of pine and grass pushing forward, with that pithy resinous feeling climbing upwards as well.

The finish was slightly dry, with a lingering grapefruit rind aftertaste. However, it disappeared quickly and, overall, the beer was quite easy to drink.

Uncle Slam is a good summer sipper. It packs a punch with its flavors but still remains, and drinks, on the lighter side. I would have liked it to keep that juiciness throughout but there is a nice balance of hop flavors here without it ever being too bitter.

A very solid hazy and I can’t wait to try more from Stonecloud.