Thursday, August 23, 2012

Review: Lazy Magnolia Timber Beast

Alright, finally the long awaited higher abv beer from Mississippi's Lazy Magnolia (facebook - twitter) Brewery!  First off, I have to give many thanks to David Komendanchik for bringing me a bottle of this one from Mississippi.  It has hit a few bars in Louisiana, namely Avenue Pub and Barley Oak, but no bottles have made it this way as of yet.  I sure hope that changes soon because this is a real winner of a Rye IPA. 

The appearance is pretty much what you see to the right... a copper colored brew with a large lingering off-white head that just screams "drink me!!" but also, "wait and savor the aroma a bit first."  And the aroma doesn't let me down, with a hop assault of primarily piney hops and an underlying spiciness of the rye.  I'm digging this one so far, but the taste is a beer's bread and butter, not the appearance.  Or even really the aroma.

The taste on this one though, brilliant.  Rye spice with a strong, bold presence of west coast hops.  Not much caramel or malt or anything along those lines but if you want a good hoppy rye IPA, this is your bag.  

I still have hops lingering on my tongue... they don't want to leave and I don't want to kick them out.  Sometimes a beer can really leave a little too much bitterness on the tongue but this one finds the sweet spot... er... bitter spot?  

Anyway, I think that this is a real winner from the brewery next door, and a fantastic first go at a higher abv IPA.  I'm looking forward to this in bottles around here on a regular basis, because I could see it sitting in the beer fridge right next to the Parish Envie APA as two of my go-to brews.

Well done Lazy Magnolia, well done indeed.

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