Sprecher Shakparo Ale

Shockingly sweet, dry cider and ginger flavor that grows on you and becomes delicious by the third or fourth bottle. Best buzz of any beer I’ve tried. Most notably, a beer without gluten means no wheat and barley farts. $7/4pack-16oz

16oz bottle acquired in trade with drewbeerme (thanks!). Poured a medium and cloudy amber color with a smaller sized off white head. Lots of small floaters. Aromas of bananas, fruity, (spices defintiely cloves in there), smoked wood, and maybe a trace of bubble gum. Tastes of bananas, cloves, wheaty/graininess, fruity, and had that same woody-smokiness to it. Had a very light tart finish. Very interesting beer that seems to cross a few styles. This one is growing on me with every sip I take.

Hard to define this beer since there really exists no information on it, even at the Sprecher website. They say African-style ale. I say it’s more like a Belgian Ale or most likely an amber ale brewed with some exotic estery yeast(s) and some mystery grains. Although, Sprecher has been known to pull a quick one with their brews, this one is definitely unique. The beer pours to a nice lightly glowing hazy amber body with lots of fizzy and rapid visible carbonation. A thin fizzy white head sits on top. The body looks lively. The beer’s aroma is lightly dotted with cloves and sweet Belgian candi-sugar with a touch of light alfalfa. The beer sort of reminds me of what Dark Horse did with their Amber Ale. The flavor is quite sweet and seems to have a clove/banana thing going on. Interesting yeast profile that seems to be more Belgian than anything else. Grain seems to be wheat or perhaps spelt. Creamy and lively fully carbonated mouthfeel that has a nice lingering candy sweetness to it. This one’s alright in my book. Finally Sprecher has broken their "typical beer" mold.

Hazy reddish amber pour. Has the malty, sugary, spicy aroma of a belgian but not the big, rocky belgian head. This one just fizzed up briefly and disappeared. Spicy-sweet clove and grain flavor with a fruity, malty finish. Lively carbonation and a nice, full mouthfeel makes this one very satisfying. Great job by Sprecher, I hope they keep branching out like this.

Bottle was a slow gusher. Pours a solid amber with lots of bits of sediment. Nice frothy off-white head. Dry, slightly grainy banana aroma... a little belgian-esque. Wheaty, slightly fruity body. Almost similar to a good New Glarus weiss. The wheaty flavor is a bit thin though... I’m not a sorghum expert, but maybe that is the sorghum coming through. Misc fruit and caramel. Quite a bit like a good dunkelweiss, but with a dry adjuncty thing at the end that I don’t like quite as much.