Friday, as you guys have read, I was lucky enough to help out at Tattered Flag’s canning run for their collaboration effort with Abomination Brewing and Pilger Ruh Brewing for their version of Social Distancing. Abomination Brewing has set this collaboration up, and they have done it with a few varied other breweries (notable ones include Ever Grain Brewing and Breaker Brewing).

Abomination Brewing’s press release on the beer:

“The Beer industry has always relied on community, now more than ever. And since we can’t drink a beer together, we’ll BREW a beer together, but responsibly apart, to get us through these hard times. Social Distancing is a massive collaboration with some of our favorite folks in the industry! Each collaborating brewery will be brewing up their own unique version of this DDH DIPA, so trust us, you’re going to want to try them all! We will be updating the list below as we announce collaborating breweries!” (Abomination Brewing – Social Distancing)

A full list of participating breweries include:

• Saints Row Brewing
• Kinsmen Brewing
• Hoof Hearted Brewing
• The North Brewery
• Breaker Brewing
• Ever Grain Brewing Co.
• Pilger Ruh Brewing
• Ten7 Brewing Company
• Rotunda Brewing Company
• Tattered Flag
• Front Porch Brewing
• Icarus Brewing
• Bolero Snort
• Lost Tavern Brewing

Its quite a hefty list. Each beer brewed is a collaboration, all with Abomination Brewing as the genesis. For example; Rotunda Brewing is a collaboration with them and Abomination Brewing. Ever Grain Brewing is them and Abomination Brewing; Breaker is them and Abomination Brewing, and the one I will be reviewing here today – Tattered Flag’s – is a collaboration with Tattered Flag, Abomination Brewing, and the guys at Pilger Ruh Brewing.

So grab a chair, sit six feet away, grab a glass and a Social Distancing, and lets check this bad boy out!

Firstly, lets look at the breweries involved – Tattered Flag, Abomination Brewing, and Pilger Ruh Brewing. For many readers, Tattered Flag will be very recognizable, especially on this blog as I’ve reviewed several beers from them (Tattered Soul, You Hoppin On Me?, Tattered Dreamz, Member Berry, Wasted Away Again, Inexplicably Juicy, Should Have Put Him in Custardy, Pink Guava, Boulangerie Stout, and lastly another collaboration involving Pilger Ruh Brewing and Abomination Brewing [as well as three other breweries – Wolf Brewing, Rotunda Brewing Company, and Snitz Creek Brewing] – Abbra Collabra Six-Way Banana Milkshake IPA).

So, astute readers of the blog should recognize Pilger Ruh and Abomination Brewing as well. From the various reviews as well as event coverage I’ve done (like Ffej of July, and different brewfests). Tattered Flag and Pilger Ruh have ‘hooked up’ several times over the recent years, and each time has resulted in a homerun, and this certainly is no different.

For some background information all the same:

Pilger Ruh Brewing – Nano Brewery, 63 unique beers, a global average rating of 4.03 (as of 5.25.20). Untappd Description: Future nano brewery coming to Schuylkill County PA!
Abomination Brewing – Contract Brewery, 133 unique beers, a global average rating of 3.94 (as of 5.25.20). Untappd Description: Nomadic brewers specializing in out of this world experimental ales. #beermonster.
Tattered Flag – Micro Brewery, 416 unique beers, a global average rating of 3.79 (as of 5.25.20). Untappd Description: (blank).

So we canned this just Friday; 5.22.20 at the Tattered Flag brewery. Have no fear, we all maintained social distancing and practiced safety and precautions given everything going on. Justin as head brewer for Tattered Flag supervised the canning and the guys from Pilger Ruh Brewing (Tyler and Conlan Budwash, and Anthony Deppen) were on hand as well. As well as myself and two other volunteers. The canning run went smoothly, very few low-fills and no disasters (like a few times in the past). Starting at 10AM and ending around 1:30PM, not a bad, quick, easy, smooth canning day. I got to hang out with the guys, drink a few (…ok three) of the Social Distancing beers, as well as sample the Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Custardy series), and try out the Breaker Brewing and Ever Grain Brewing Co’s variants of the Social Distancing beer.

I figured for the review though, getting to have this beer with family on Memorial Day (again, social distancing was performed, and all people mostly quarantined together, and all in good health, as well as only an attendance of 7 people counting little ones), this would be the perfect, appropriate time to review the beer. So without further adieu, lets review!

Beer: Social Distancing
Brewery: Tattered Flag
Collaborators: Pilger Ruh Brewing and Abomination Brewing
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double New England
ABV: 8%
IBU: (none listed)
Untappd Description: Social distancing is our newest collab hosted by Abomination Brewing co and brewed in our facility with Pilger Ruh Brewing Co. With a base of 2-row, wheat, and oats each brewery put a spin on this collab by selecting different hop varieties. Our version was whirlpooled with Motueka, fermented with Kviek Voss, then slammed with a Citra and Strata dry hop for notes of mango, fresh berry, bright citrus, and gooseberry. Please enjoy no less than 6′ from your drinking buddy!

Canning day the whole brewery smelled delicious, like walking into a hop filled bakery. And cracking this beer just three days later retained that same smell. Strong juicy New England style hoppy deliciousness as soon as the tab cracked and the can opened. Very strong, citrus, floral and fruity notes, hint of peach and mango especially out of the fruit.

Appearance is very pretty, as my dad even noted “looks like you have lemonade and mixed a little bit of orange juice in it… boy” (…….thats a direct quote to. Also after he admonished me for using Petunia Pig instead of the Sylvester Cat pint glass too. He stands by his statement that Petunia wouldn’t drink but that Sylvester was a lush.) He is pretty right about the appearance; it is a lighter orange juice coloring. Typical for a New England IPA, its unfiltered, its juicy, its dank, its hazy (or as the cool kids would say “hazy AF”…. no clue what the A and the F stand for…). There is floaters but nothing crazy snow-globe like. It did manage to turn Petunia’s eyes an evil Sith Lord like yellow / orange.

Taste is genuinely juicy delicious. No hop bite, even the day of canning there was no ‘green-ness’ to it and hop bitterness. This is just a juicy, fluid, smooth beer. Immediate notes of peach, mango, floral, juicy, citrus hops; smaller notes of berry flavors like fresh picked mixture of blackberry, raspberry, and gooseberries. There is a floral note to the hops as well, and just a bit of an underlying wheat and oat tasting to it. The dry-hopping really brings out the bright and juicy hop notes, and keeps the bitterness down especially. No strong hop bite makes this extraordinarily smooth and juice like drink. It also masks the 8% making this feel a lot lighter and airy. With the small foamy pillowy head, you definitely get a vibe of lightness and airyness from this, just a gentle nice summer drink. Perfect for parties, or by the pool, or hanging out…. while being six feet (minimum) apart from friends. Made for a wonderful Memorial Day weekend beer (had a few the night before and then one at the party), also made for a fantastic post-7 mile hike at Gifford Pinchot beer as well Saturday night. This is definitely a fantastic and easy juicy beer.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.16 (as of 5.25.20)

Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll wrap up Module Ten in our beer education series (which is the last module), and we’ll have that all finished. Also, make sure to check out the canning article from my day volunteering and helping the canning run for this wonderful beer. Thank you everyone for checking us out, make sure to like, subscribe, follow, share, etc, etc, etc, etc. We here at The Beer Thrillers greatly appreciate it!

Also, make sure your staying healthy out there, make sure to drink plenty of juice (wink wink nudge nudge) and stay six feet apart (…social distancing one might say…). Enjoy your Memorial Weekend, and remember why we celebrate it. Why you would have the day off (even if you weren’t furloughed like I am), and respect and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Cheers everyone! Happy Memorial Day, happy beer, and see you guys once this is all behind us! We’re getting there, almost out of the woods!

-B. Kline

This was a juicy, big, bold, IPA that was sent to me as part of that Texas beer mail package. I’ve done a few other reviews from the beers sent to me – Road Trip Snacks, Thursday (2016), Islla en el Cielo, $#!+ Ton, Daebak, Chocolate Confidential, Sunshine and Opportunity, Azathoth, Citraquench’l, Paradise Lost, Irish Table, Athena, Vanilla Ice Cream Stout, Reve Coffee Stout, and Ghost in the Machine. (In short, I love getting beer mail; and love doing beer reviews of them!)

This is another gem from a beer mail / beer trade. Haven’t had too many misses on my beer mail and beer trades (thank the maker). While we’re all stuck inside due to the snow squalls and cold May weather here in Central PA; lets check this out.

Beer: Virtually Inseparable
Brewery: Celestial Beerworks
Collaborator: Turning Point Beer
Style: IPA – Triple New England
ABV: 10%
IBU: None listed
Untappd Description: A “virtual collaboration” with our cyber pals at Turning Point Beer. It’s a triple IPA brewed with Citra, Strata and Sabro. It has aromas of passionfruit and pineapple, and is jam packed with flavors of coconut, mango, taffy, and melon. It has a soft and fluffy mouthfeel and is the absolute brightest 10% glass of juice.

Interesting hops for this – Citra, Strata, and Sabro. People seem to be on the fence with sabro hops (some love it, some hate it).

This looks pure orange juice. Bright, beautiful golden orange color. Little foam to the head, not crazy head to it, but enough to be good. The bubbles are interspersed and varied. This is certainly hazy, with a few ‘floaters’ but nothing egregious.

Aroma is strong, super strong hoppyness. As obvious as the appearance of the beer is, the aroma kicks in as soon as you crack the can and lets you know right away that this is a Triple IPA. You get immediate notes of coconut, passionfruit, mango, pineapple, and a bit of melon.

Lets take this opportunity to look at the hops involved in this delicious triple IPA:
* Sabro – Sabro is an aroma hop that is notable for its complexity of fruity and citrus flavors. It imparts distinct tangerine, coconut, tropical fruit, and stone fruit aromas, with hints of cedar, mint, and cream. Sabro’s pedigree is the result of a unique cross pollination of a female neomexicanus hop.
* Citra – Citra hops are now one of the most coveted aroma hops in the US and have a strong citrusy profile with elements of grapefruit, lime and tropical fruit.
* Strata – Bittering with Strata brings a nice balanced bitterness. Flavor and aroma additions bring out the fruity side with tropical fruit and fresh berry brightness. Brewers say that dry hopping deepens the grapefruit and dank/herbal/cannabis elements.
(Information comes from Yakima Valley Hops, Hopslist, and Learn.Kegerator; respectively for all three.)

This has a soft mouthfeel. Its very juicy, very dank, but extremely drinkable and no booze or strong bite despite its 10% ABV. The flavor this is fantastic. You get notes of coconut, passionfruit, mango, slight berry notes, a bit of citrus poking through at points (primarily in a tangerine or orange taste), a little bit of pineapple. I think the biggest hop fruit flavor is mango, which explains why I enjoy it so much, thats always one of my favorite hop or fruit flavors in beers. (Funny because I don’t eat mangos as actual food, but love the flavor of them in beer.) There is little bits of floaters in this, but nothing you actually taste or detect as you drink. There is no dryness to this, and very little bitter or hop burn as well, its just genuinely a smooth beer, with a decently heavy mouthfeel but overall it tastes light and airy but still juicy. It goes down relatively quickly too, especially for a 10% beer. Having multiples of this around could be a danger that’s for sure.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.46 (as of 5.10.20)

This was a wonderful beer to have at home, sitting relaxing, after I did a 10+ mile walk with my dog (Leela) walking the Conewago Recreational Trail. I walked it from the start on Rt. 230 near where Elizabethtown begins, and took it all the way to the Lebanon County line (where it becomes the Lebanon Valley Rails and Trails) and, went a bit further, than turned around. After the walk, stopped at Moo-Duck to support local breweries. I got a taco flatbread pizza, and a crowler of Hades Chocolate Rye (which I drank later that night with my friend and was delicious).

We’re rolling through May everyone, its now May 10th, which means we’re 1/3rd of the way through the month. I hope everyone is having a wonderful May, and is enjoying the blog, hopefully also, everyone is staying safe, staying (primarily) home, helping local small businesses and breweries, and doing their part to beat this virus. We’re all in this together.

Would love to give a shout out to all the hard working nurses, doctors, people who are volunteering for their communities by handing out lunches at schools, taking care of elderly, or doing whatever they can for their fellow neighbors and people. And a big thank you to people still working at some of the ‘centers’ of this; grocery store workers, cashiers, hospital employees, medical professionals, firefighters, etc. Thank you to all of you!

We’ll get through this. We’ll get back out there to life, and we’ll all sit down for some beers together! Until then, cheers from afar!

-B. Kline