Video by Gabe Pocrass, CTV 11.
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Horse & Dragon Brewing Company’s “May the Sloth be with you” is the beer review this week, and I must start by saying that I love the name of this beer! How could you not? It combines two of the best things in the world: Star Wars and Sloths. It’s all too perfect. This beer however, was not.
Now don’t let me mislead you by saying this; This beer was not all that bad, but it was … different. The perspective Horse & Dragon Brewing Company took was to combine two popular beer styles and turn it into one. They took an IPA and a Brown Ale and combined them, deeming this new style a “Hoppy American Brown Ale.”
I must say they definitely put some thought into it. The hops they used, which largely incorporate the IPA genre, matched pretty well for the combination and flavor profile of a Brown Ale — flavors like caramel, malt and biscuit. The hops gave off that familiar bitterness and they seemed to have a lot of earthy tones in them, suiting this brew well.
Also, as I kept drinking this beer, there was a hidden and slight citrus undertone that I started to detect. This gave the beer a level of dynamics which I liked. Overall, it was a very creative, unique and non-bothersome beer. But, there were some turnoffs.
First, when adding any amount of hops, I think it’s fair to say that hops have a very recognizable bitterness taste — that’s one of the appeals to them — but, when trying to add hops to an American Brown Ale, you don’t want to take away from the foundation of the Brown Ale’s flavor profile. This beer at times did that though. While I was drinking it, I felt like I was just drinking an IPA. The hoppiness overwhelmed the rest of the beer instead of complimenting it, which is what I think they were actually looking to do.
In addition to that, the color of this beer was pretty bad.
It had a murky brown muddy color. Nobody wants to look at that when you’re drinking a beer, and while it didn’t taste bad, it definitely threw me off a few times.
But regardless, color is a very important aspect to the aesthetics of a beer and when a beer doesn’t look pleasing to drink, it’s definitely a turnoff.
Overall, this beer is 6 percent ABV and it was brewed in collaboration with Wynkoop Brewery Company down in Denver — located right next to Union Station. My rating for it is a 7.4/10, whereas The Mayor of Old Town gave it a 6.75/10.
Collegian Beer Reviewer Gabe Pocrass can be reached online at blogs@collegian.com or on Twitter at @Gpocrass.
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