Let’s just get this out of the way at the outset: these Hudson Valley cans are polarizing and completely apeshit, and I really enjoyed them.  On paper it looks like I should recoil from these Umbrella Corp monstrosities: “sour DIPA with oat, wheat, cardamom, vanilla, lactose, citra powder and white chocolate.”  The description sounds like a mean parody or some beer casual dipshit on UPROXX trying to do a mocking impression of a beer nerd. Yet somehow, these are just crazy enough to work.

These do suffer a touch from Monkishitis in that they all are very similar with little ebbs and flows. This one has passionfruit, this one has grapefruit.  I enjoyed Halcyon the “best” but they are all within 15% of flavor profiles of one another. The “sour” is a bit of a canard since these are not exactly sour, in the way that pineapple juice isn’t exactly tart.  It is more like a gestalt for what they accomplish.  These taste like lemon gelato with fernet branca added on the front end.  It is creamy and bizarre arugula and Flintsones push pop.  Others have a bit more lime and blood orange zest but you are firmly in this herbal rocket pop zone that even my casual friends really loved.

Like extensive CG additives, it can get a bit draining after the first can.  I opened all of these in one day and was beleaguered by the end. If you like lemon meringue with shallots and sherbert added, then here you go.  Science has finally gone far enough to provide your insane palate demands with this ultra specific thing you never knew you wanted.  Part of this feels like a wheelie and another part is “pregnancy craving” satiation. Pickles and ice cream, that old yarn. Suffice it to say, everyone loved these, even dudes who cant evn convert platos to specific gravity, filthy betas.