346. 3 Sheeps Brewing Company (Sheboygan, WI) - Fresh Coast

“Fresh Coast is an East Coast-style pale ale brewed for the Midwest. Like most beers of the style, it pours cloudy...and that’s on purpose. The haze lets hop oils linger on the palate, enhancing their naturally citrusy and tropical fruit notes. To get that haze, we cultivate a special Vermont yeast strain that’s only used for Fresh Coast. It’s a pain to manage for just one beer, but it’s worth it. It’s the kind of beer you can drink all day, with your feet dangling in the lake. Because we live on the ‘Fresh Coast’ and that’s worth celebrating, right?”

Well shit…when you’re four beers into the afternoon and the pulled pork is rocking in the crock pot with your secret blend of seven spices (plus a little barbecue sauce and worcestershire sauce), you don’t really see the signs on the side of the road anymore, do you? Maybe the Vermont yeast strain gives it the piney backbone that resembles neither citrus nor tropical fruit, but it’s got something sharp going on that belies the advertised 4.8% ABV. I don’t really dig the way the flavors mix, but with that low an ABV, I could drink a few more of them; alas, this was a gift from my buddy Shane, so this is prolly my only one.