It's been a couple of years but I have enjoyed every beer I have had by these guys. They are, in fact, probably the best contract brewer out there...or at least my favorite. Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. alone justifies that.
Origin Pomegranate Ale is likely not the first thing you are going to think of as a fine brew. Me, I pretty much hate fruit beer. I blame this one. I have an up on this one, though, as I am told that my granddad in Scotland - when younger and quite a tough man - was oddly mad for pomegranates, eating them like oranges, slicing them in half, mashing the rich red pulp into his gob and letting what happens with all that gushy juice happen.
Not quite the same experience with the beer. Far more control. It pours orange-amber with a fine rim and foam head. Lots of Boston brown bread malty sweetness on the nose. In the mouth, well, plenty of black tea hopping almost balancing rich figgy malty...and then that pomegranate just nosing out making itself know but not taking over anything. A nice fresh snap. Almost replicating the juicy citrus of big US hopping more than a juice injection. Not sweet either. It's not quote a Lenny but it is worthy and rightly earns BAer respect. Fine.
