Upside Dawn

The beer

Lemon, honey, and floral hops make a soft first impression, a golden aroma that smells gentler than the beer drinks. The swallow corrects it. Crisp grain and biscuit carry a light citrus, and the close is dry, earthy, and only lightly bitter.

Honey stays in the aroma. The earth is quiet, and it outlasts the lemon. Bitterness is light enough that the grain stays the point, crisp rather than sharp. Floral hops do their work up front. The middle belongs to biscuit and grain, with just enough citrus to keep the grain lively.

The likeness is a golden ale with a dry end. Biscuit gives the middle a little bake. The citrus stays light. The earthy close is what remains after the honey has done its work in the nose. It drinks clean, and it finishes firmer than it smells, with a bitterness that holds the grain in place and then lets it go.

A golden can smell of honey and still finish dry. This one does. The floral hop note belongs with the lemon, at the start. Grain, biscuit, a light citrus, then earth. That is the beer, and the light bitterness is only the frame around the grain. The lemon is the brightness at the start.