494. Wiseacre Brewing Co. (Memphis, TN) - Puffel

“At the dawn of Pangea and off the coast of the coast of an Archipelago that included Madagascar, New Zealand, and the Faroe Islands when reached by a ferry through a mystical portal to the center of earth you’d wind up in the upside down where Puffins, Pengwolfs and Porcas dominated air, land and sea. The temperature was always tropical winter with long sunny days and pillowy clouds of floof. Puffel hearkens this yesteryear of a supercontinent long forgotten with its cloudy cover, New Zealand bred Nelson Sauvin hops which bring cool climate white wine grape flavors, extreme fruitiness, passionfruit, and fresh crushed gooseberries. But beware! Hungry like the Pengwolf…it packs a deceptively potent punch.”

Um. And of course you know where I’m going to start; it’s the kind of writing that is so bad I’m glad I didn’t read it before I tried the beer. If I had never heard of Wiseacre and were trying to decide whether to try them based on the writing describing this beer, I would pass; and that would be unfortunate, both because this is a fine beer and because Wiseacre is a solid brewery. Fortunately, all I saw was the listing on the menu at Jockamo last week. I tried a different beer that day and didn’t get back to this one, but I found it at Total Wine when I was in search of something else. It’s a little too busy with fruit for me to single out anything specific—though this is not necessarily a bad thing. The high alcohol (9.0% ABV) adds a little bit of sharpness, but at the end of the day, this is a can of fruit cocktail; it ain’t bad, and it serves the purpose—but it should have been better, especially considering how good the other two Wiseacre beers I’ve tried have been.