Next week I’m taking the ‘Naut kids to see Grandma and Grandpa in Iowa, and catch up on some uncles that they still haven’t met. Maybe we’ll hit more post-worthy pubs there. Just in case, I’m packing some beers all brewed and canned no further than the next town over.
And let’s get to another local beer that I’ve bought myself to review. Here we have Solemn Oath’s Hosies, an “Imperial California-Style Lager,” made in collaboration with Night Shift Brewery of Massachusetts. The closest existing style this might fit would be an “India Pale Lager,” but amped up to 10% abv. Let’s pop it!
The flash picture makes it look a little dark, but the beer is a slightly murky amber. A fizzy head drops down to a thin ring of foam around the edge.
The smell has a bit of American hop to it, also some slightly phenolic malt. I can get a pretty good impression of alcohol in my nose as well.
The malt is pretty sticky on the first sip. I bought this beer in February, and it should have stayed a little fresher, even at this time. I do get a lot of piney hop, but the extra alcohol in the malt has made this turn a little bit “medicinal.” Okay, the extra alcohol in the 16 oz. tube makes for a nice buzz. It’s worth checking out, but I think this tries too hard to be “extreme.”
It took me a while to look up the meaning of “Hosies,” since Googling for it went pretty deep with links to the beer. Turns out, and you may have guessed from the label, “hosies” is the Boston area equivalent of “dibs.”
