Great Lakes consistently puts out clean, accessible, iconic offerings and has traditionally shied away from gimmicky adjunct bullshit or needlessly hyped releases with intentionally low bottle count releases. It truly is a gem for the average person in Ohio and exists as a core of beer stability much in the way New Glarus buttresses the drunken population of Wisconsin.

Alright it seems that these sniper Sudwerk gems are getting some traction on the ISO:FT boards so I figured I would review one of the more obscure offerings, cherry diddly. The name sounds like a deviant sex act but what about the beer itself? According to the brewer:

“The Cherry Diddly, is a flanderish beer.  We ferment it with saison 1 & 2 and then finish it in tempranillo barrels.  Each barrel gets 5 gals of tempranillo/syrah must and then 50# of tart cherries.  It is soured and funked with the same bugs as the solera.”

Ah shit flanders red meets ba saison hybrid and then they go POPPIN them cherries? I am surprised they didn’t call this a kriek or a biere de garde like so many shittier breweries would be inclied to do. Seems AWA AF. Let’s get up in these pits.

Flandiddly whales 

Sudwerk Brew co, brewery not the pub, Davis, Ca

8%? Abv, ba saison cut with flanders red with cherries

A: the beer pours muddy and turbid as fuck with deep fuchsia and magenta swirling at top and brick red hues at the center. It looks like someone took a Rodenbach grand Cru and muddled raspberries in it, zero fucks given, served it at the neighborhood watch meeting.

Remember before you were a jaded beer asshole and you were excited to drink Duchess?

S: while cold this put an acetic foot forward and I braced myself for some acrimonious Small Animal Big Machine type of shit. As it warmed it became more and more akin to Oude tart with sour cherries: it was a splash of acetylaldehyde and Korean nail salon but opens up with a cherry goodness like blossoms and fruit by the foot, an acidic punch supports the caramel and brioche wafts. It is decidedly more flanders red than saison in the genomorphic order, if you can handle that then you’ll be in safe hands.

This beer respects those saison and flanders boundaries.

T: this has far more Berry and black cherry than the nose let on and bursts with puckering maraschino and sour patch kids. The malt profile has a rich of almond and a sort of Hawaiian roll sweetness to it that is a nice depth to what could have just been a trifling la Folie clone.

M: this isn’t as dry as other flanders reds and has a creamy heft to the mouthfeel that coats in a cheesiness that is essentially the only farmhouse aspect I could detect and this alone saves it from falling straight into rodenbach meets AWA obscurity. The mouthfeel coats and feels substantial to balance out the puckering aspects, which is something that usually makes other intense face melting flanders suffer. 

It is strange, but I like it.

D: you could still a pint bottle easily, but you also could seek out Oude tart or la folie and not be missing out on a whole lot either. It is a notable entry to demonstrate the diversity of this rising star but the solera and farmhouse beers are a farm better demonstration of nuance and care attendant to this brewery, if anything this is a signpost for things to come rather than a core entry for their rotating offerings. 

Dinner, Maine beer co, Maine/noshit

Double ipa, 7.5% abv 

Ah these elusive northeastern hopwhales Never seem to be in short supply these days. Back in 2011 the OG conewalez were Ephraim, boy King and citra. At some point people were overdrawn on fucks to spare and the vast majority of these noble breeds have gone the way of the white rhino. Except dripping with rare alpha acids.

This is a throwback to those days, something in the same vein as fuzzy baby ducks, just an outstanding hoppy beer that unquestionably warrants the steep price of entry. This week we will have more Lawson’s shit and this trillobite of the trading world is making a loving rebirth. If they are that markedly better than the already substantial local hoppy beers, then bring them on.

So MBC has a solid pedigree of clean, simple beers that operate without gimmicks, maintain a focused message and agenda and marketing that is as stripped down as a Tori Amos concert. Even their ultra hyped DINNER OMFG DOUBLE IPA, is tame by modern ploys. It doesn’t have a sky high 12% abv, it doesn’t need hop oil extract or crazy quince-dry hopping or stupid shit. It just steps forth as a no frills boxer that delivers without a series of empty pre-show threats and interviews. The hop cones COMETH.

A: this beer pours radiant and looks phenomenal with lightly hazy orange and tangerine glow to the center with carb that is neither excessive nor tepid. Cast flat stones across this beautiful Maine pond.

S: the nose on this beer again shows a remarkable degree of balance and poise like an épée delicately carving tight lines in the malty canvas shirt of opponents. This has orange zest, clementines, raked pine needles, tangelo pith and a oily closer that wafts incredibly refreshing. This isn’t a style you often peg as uplifting, unless you are into pegging. Then by all means. The nose delivers hard and I want to pour this in a volcano and take fat clear pulls from a clean bag of these danky cones.

When I see people offering up offshelf local ipas for this. 

T: this beer doesn’t disappoint in this regard either and zero ragrets are left from trading for a DIPA. The mouth is dry at the outset, grapefruit and kiwi are complimented by a sticky depth and lingering crushed leaves that adds depth without making it cloying or excessive. I wish this were canned and readily available so I could cross yet another style off of the “trade for” list. If you enjoyed double Galaxy, this is a cleaner more nimble version that satisfies in its simplicity, like a Buster Keaton performance.

M: this is anomalously dry on the first sip but finished long with an oily discharge down your throat. That’s a treatment that some deviants pay top dollar to enjoy. Again this is one of those “no qualifier” top Dipas that shows the care and subtle influence from the brewer that is a breath of hoppy air to a market crowded with stupid pepper ipas, honey infusion, Crystal malt, dextrose bullshit. 

Quality or quantity don’t tell me they’re the same. 

D: a pint botle is almost a mocking homage to the label which instructs you to drink every bottle you purchase on the day it was released. Like fuzzy baby ducks, any container is an inherent limitation to this ceaselessly enjoyable iteration of a dIPA. The confines of glass has an attendant recognition that this bottle, too will end soon, and you will be left in your efficiency apartment with a judgmental Netflix message calling back into the emptiness of your home. Your taste of greatness is a recognition of your own shortcomings, and the experience is well worth it. 

Wait for the next release and lock this shit down like a Brinks truck.

I wish that usps could be trusted with all packages. Bottles from Maine to the west coast in 2 days is ultra cutty. 

Cigar City beer, Florida

I didnt make that style description up, 10% abv

When I read this was one of the Catador only beers the amount of WAT was not insubstantial. What is a tropical stout? The fuck is the difference in imperial and regular export stouts? Do the rum barrels make it more tropicaler? There were lingering concerns at the outset.

The beer pours jet black and has beautiful carb and nice legs leaving sheets of beige foam dotting the glass. The nose is sweeeet molasses, overripe banana, figs, Carmelized raisins, and TURBinadO sugar. The rum barrel is this needless middle manager telling this already sweet potation to read the OSHA posters in the breakroom and sign the medical provider forms, this beer didn’t need any additional sweetness oversight but, the barrel is there notwithstanding.

Another sweet stout from CCB? GOT EMMMMMMMM!!!!!! 

The taste actually adds a layer of raspy roast and TOASTY depth to this sweet endeavor. You get the foregoing but also a sort of dark chocolate, brownie mix, blonde roast coffee, and a cut teak to round things out. With such an apeshit style description I am at a loss as to how to improve upon something so esoteric. This isn’t bad but could use some dialing in with regards to the saccharine olfactory profile and some additional balance to the muddled raisin taste.

Detroit isn’t ready for this.

I wouldn’t refuse another pour in the future, but that wildly hypothetical scenario assumes I have any friends who can tolerate my company. Taking down a full 750ml would be quite the task but not impossible if you load up an entire season of Daredevil and get to grinding it out.

I would say lazily seek this out but don’t trade anything apeshit for it, unless you happen to be well stocked with ape feces, then by all means, push that fedex policy to the limits.

“What Ohio breweries do you like? Brb sending you every single Great Lakes beer available”

Smog City, Torrance or if you tryna front “Redondo Beach Adjacent”, Ca

Heaven hill barrel aged English barleywine, 13.5% abv

This beer has an apeshit history that I will attempt to relate in tonight’s tale of caramel nocturnal emissions. So if I recall correctly this was originally brewed by someone at Taps in Brea, I won one of the twelve (12) bottles of that back in 2012 and realized that a boner can only get so hard. I loved it. Then I think that brewer moved to Tustin and for two full years I had midwest Homies asking me to get them this draft only, not often tapped beer. It was endlessly frustrating.

If that is correct, now that same brewer has moved to Smog City in Torrance and this is their 1500 bottle brewery only release of this god tier Barleywine, finally bottled. Enough foreplay, let’s put some mileage on that malty sybian.

This pours a radiant deep garnet ruby weapon, fantastically amber and clean. The sheeting almost belies an Abv above the stately ball point pen written 13.5. This like kuhnhenn and Adam from the wood suffers from sticky chondromalacia and falls flat under its own weight. It isn’t quite dead flat but the heft of it seems to drag the nimble thin body down.

This batch maintains that awesome pedigree.

The nose is figs, plum, creme brûlée shell, pralines, and oaked bourbon. It is phenomenal on the waft and closes with an awesome dark fruit to round out the sweetness, my nips are fully torqued.

The taste opens sweet like Carmelized bananas fosters, toasted macaroon, dry over oaked bourbon like Old blowhard, peanut brittle and a lingering Berry like a MALBEC covert ops. It is nuanced and has depth beyond most of the best barleywines of recent memory. If this competed in the infamous blind barleywine tasting it would easily place top ten due to originality and execution.

When I read this was finally bottled 

The mouthfeel leaves nothing to be desired and sips like a dry sherry attenuated perfectly with zero fusel waft. I had so many prewritten smog city jokes that I can’t use because this shit is that good. California isn’t the barleywine hub of the world but this lovingly rubs shoulders with Great and Brandy old numbskull. 

It is simply a must try and with the carb problems set aside it competes amiably with the absolute best in one of my absolute favorite genres. I know these reviews dont have all the labia jokes you flock to read but it is really good and I can’t punch up compliments and praise with yukyuks like I can dropping deuces on bottles.

Get this release. Srs.

The hnnnnggg :: ounce ratio is croosh