New beers from Offset and Bewilder 

• Mike Riedel

Offset Bier - So Out, It's In: Some people who are significantly smarter than us discovered how to flash-freeze wet hops straight from the bine before cryogenically pelletizing them, allowing the Park City-based brewery to create (and for you to enjoy) that delectable fresh hop character throughout the entire year.

The pour reveals peach juice coloring (beautiful dark orange-gold), fully opaque but not turbid, with an amazing soapy head of eggshell bubbles, nice head retention and fantastic lacing. There's a wonderful creaminess to the liquid. It evokes a fairly mild nose, but what is there is lovely: lots of ripe fruits, especially orange, grapefruit, blueberries, pineapple, passionfruit, peach, grape, lemon/lime and mango. A nice dankness emerges, quite grassy, with a lovely floral quality, plus a little honeysuckle and bubble gum with a slight mineral note. Ripe orange comes on strong late, and the result is attractive and clean.

The taste is similarly multifaceted but semi-mild, though here the Juicy Fruit gum note makes its appearance. It brings more orange, grass and bubblegum than anything else, but there is a nice medley of fruit in the background, with berry and grapefruit popping through most distinctively. Overall, it's mildly sweet, but with a strong grapefruit pith to balance out this 7.0 percent beer.

Verdict: Quite delicate and clean, but I appreciate it more and more (and pick up additional nuances) the longer I sip on it. It's hard to compare it to the "hop bombs" that have taken over the hazy IPA world since New England breweries first started making beers like this. This one doesn't jump out at you, but is excellent for what it is. Wonderful ruby red grapefruit—pithy and sweet—lingers forever.

Bewilder - Low Hanging Phruit: This is a New Zealand-style pilsner made with Moutere, Nelson Savin and Nectaron hops, thiolized Lunar Crush yeast and house-blended lager yeast. And in case that's not enough science, they also added a bit of Phantasm powder. Between this NZ hop blend, the thiol yeast and the Phantasm, I can promise that you've never had a Pilsner (NZ or otherwise) quite like this.

The liquid really does shine, bright gold and yellow in this unfiltered lager. Creamy white foam sits atop, with the consistency of a milk shake; the lace is intricate and sticky. The nose has a wild citrus-and-cream-style aroma, crushed white grapes, starfruit, tangy-edged mango, spicy earth and grain notes from the super-clean malt.

The Nelson hops are certainly unique, with a white wine and melon flavor combo that I find strange but very interesting. There is a certain level of dry-bitter earth tones in the finish that I really dig, and I love the simple, tasty, light and clean malt effect, grainy with an herbal and sharp tone. Mild and neutral lager yeast makes the hops really shine bright. Sour and sweet edged white grapes, mango and herbal citrus flavors seem to ride in waves, in and out. The mouthfeel and texture in this 5.0 percent lager is consistently excellent. Fresh, full, clean, dry, sometimes juicy, smooth—I mean it really is that complex.

Verdict: It feels like a New England-style IPA with a dry white wine-style finish. If you can imagine a light, clean but dry effect, then you basically know what I'm talking about.

Generally the best place to find Offset's beers is at the brewery; however, I managed to find quite a few of their offerings (including this beer) in 16-ounce cans at The Bayou in Salt Lake City. Low Hanging Phruit is available on draft and in 16-ounce cans at Bewilder. As always, cheers!