Magic Hat #9

Brewed by Magic Hat Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
South Burlington, Vermont USA

A pretty decent beer. Fruity aroma and taste. Has a light color, light gold and brownish.

Bottle best before December 31, 2009. I hadn’t had this beer in quite some time before last week. I was horrified upon drinking it again and logged on to ratebeer immediately to ensure that I didn’t give it a very high score and to re-rate with a vengeance. As it turns out, I never entered a rating for it. In order to be as fair as possible, I walked away from #9 knowing I had two more bottles in the fridge to let off some steam and revisit this on another occasion. It’s been a week and here I am again with a clear head, clean palate, and a sort of open mind. Boy, this stuff smells bad. Lots of apricot, which I don’t like at all in the first place, and loads of steamed veggies are in the aroma. It smells kind of like candied yams, water used to steam cauliflower, and apricot juice. The flavor is displeasing to me, perhaps not as much as the aroma. Tons of apricot again with steamed vegetable juice abound. The finish is especially vegetal. The saddening experience just compounds with every sip. There is no way I can get through a bottle, hell not even half a bottle. Damn you Magic Hat!!

(12 ounce bottle) Taste has yeast cherries and other fruit, also a little hoppy. Dry, almost non-existant finish.

Bottle. Pours a hazy golden pour with a white head. Aroma is yeast, malts, cherries, sweet, strawberries. Flavor is cherry, strawberry, corn, grain. Bubbly mouthfeel.

From the bottle this one pours a bright golden orange color with a small, foamy white head that fades away leaving some sudsy wash behind. The aroma shows notes of honey, citrus fruit, floral notes and some weird yeast. The flavor follows with the sweet citrus fruit and honey to go with some floral notes, spices, and pale malts. Not a whole lot of fruit in there for a fruit beer. The flavor is just weird as nothing really melds well together. Medium bodied and syrupy with plenty of carbonation. This one just wasn’t what I was expecting and certainly not for me.

Bottle. It’s a transparent golden yellow colour with a thin, fading white head. The aroma is quite floral with grass, dandelion, honey, lemon and yeast. Mouthfeel is medium in body, a bit spritzy and bubbly on the tongue. It tastes a bit like a spicy wheat ale. There is more of the grass and dandelion with wheat, mint, apricot, lime leading to earl grey tea in the finish.

Bomber from Total Wine (Tampa, FL). Pours a crystal clear golden yellow with thin white head. Aroma is grass, honey, yeast, light floral esters. Flavor is honey, grass, wheat, yeast, caramel, spice, light floral notes. Light body with a malt finish.

On tap at Wildflowers in Pennington, NJ. Pours a clear, golden body with a finger-width, creamy white head that dissipates slowly and leaves a moderate lacing. Fruity ale aroma with a moderate caramel sweetness. Apricot-berry fruitiness to this with a little bit of a grassy hop. Similar flavor with more of a noticable, lightly bittered grass. More apricot with a berry-mango and a light caramel. Finishes semi-dry with a short aftertaste. Light body, somewhat crisp, and refreshing. Overall, a straightforward, nicely balanced, sessionable beer. Nothing too crazy, but enjoyable enough.