Undercurrent
Brewery: Siren
Type: American Pale Ale
Alcohol: 4.5%
Country: England
Bought this bottle in Ølbutikken in Copenhagen on my birthday. Asked the guy working there if he could recommend anything and he immediately pointed me to this beer. He told me that this is the brewery that the American brewer from Fanø Bryghus went to, well that sold it right there. I have actually since then had this beer, and Siren's Soundwave IPA on tap at Christian Firtals. Wow, I can honestly say that I will be keeping both eyes peeled for any beers I can get my grubby little hands on from this new brewery in the future.
Pours a nice deep thick orange color, starting to tinge its way into burn orange and amber. Nice big thick slightly tan head on top, I would expect nothing less from a beer bulked up with oatmeal. The smell is fantastic. Sweet and fruity mixture of malts and citrusy hops. They combine to make, well I could almost swear it's strawberries. Yes the combination of intense citrus mixed with huge malt made strawberries! The label mentions a floral mixture of hops in the aroma, I can't say I detect any flowers here friend. The taste is not intensely malty and sweet, as I would have thought from that sweet sweet nose. This is certainly engineered to be a pale ale, bready malt and a touch of toffee, again not as much as expected. The hops are very present in here. Tropical fruit and that floral the label talked about all make a big appearance. They serve to balance the malt out, but combined with possibly a bit too bitter of a bite they definitely tip the scales in "hops" favor. The oatmeal in here gives the beer a silky smoothness while at the same time boosting the fullness of the body so it really fills up the mouth.
Well I can honestly say this is a really nice APA, although I can see certain flaws lurking in the style here. Like I said it pushes the bitterness and hop envelope between APA and IPA. This actually works in its favor for me personally. I tend to like a hoppy APA over a bit more malt oriented English style. That being said I would not recommend this to a non hop head just looking for an easy drinker. The addition of the oatmeal is what I think makes this an interesting beer. Playing with mouthfeel is a great way to elevate a middle of the road beer to interesting…in the road…anyway. I really enjoyed it. I loved soundwave, but of course did not review it because I actually thought the bottle I bought was soundwave not undercurrent. (don't drink and beer shop kids) To wrap it all up, good APA for hop enthusiasts, looking forward to trying more from this new brewery.
