Review - Magic Hat Brewing Company's #9
"An ale whose mysterious and unusual palate will swirl across your tongue and ask more questions than it answers. A beer brewed clandestinely and given a name whose meaning is never revealed. Why #9? Why, indeed. A sort of dry, crisp, fruity, refreshing, not-quite pale ale. #9 is really impossible to describe because there's never been anything else quite like it. Fermented with our 150 year old strain of top-fermenting English yeast. Malts: All English 2-Row Malted Pale, Crystal and Wheat Hops: Tettnang, Willamette and Cascade Alcohol by Volume: 5.1% Original Gravity: 1.048 " --Harpoon Brewery
The #9 is Lisa's favorite beer and, we have to ask as Red Sox fans, is #9 a tribute to Ted Williams? Or is it just another in the numerical naming conventions that Magic Hat likes to use? This will require further investigation. For now, the #9 pours a light amber color with a hazy body. White fizzy head, leaving virtually no lacing behind. Aroma is of light flowery hops and, according to MB, baby food bananas. There is also, of course, the aroma of apricots, as this beer is brewed with the essence of apricots. This provides this beer with a very unique flavor, and makes it one of the very few beers that stands apart from the crowd on taste alone. Initial taste is moderately sweet, with both a light sweet and light bitter finish. Light on the mouth with soft carbonation, leaving a watery feel in its wake.
Reviewed on March 22nd, 2006 with Lisa "Left Hand" Griffin and MB.
| Type: | Fruit Beer |
| ABV: | 4.6% |
| Source: | 12 oz. Bottle |
| Score: | 17/30 |
