Chris Casci
Recently, the craft beer scene in RI had, what I believe, a major turn in the way that super limited beer releases were handled. Proclamation Ale Company announced online that the sale of their last canning run in West Kingston, would be done via Eventbrite, and that the pre purchase of this release would be very limited to those who could purchase two tickets of the allotment this way. If you could get this golden ticket, you could pick up your cans on Friday or Saturday, at the brewery. If you couldn’t get a ticket you could get pours of these beers on site during this time. The buzz started as soon as this was announced, for real.
The craft beer trade sites were buzzing for trades like I’ve never seen, and in this community it was a big announcement. We love Proc, and the hype was real, because after this, they are moving from the original location, and into a new, much bigger facility in Warwick, RI. This hype was happening before the pre sale went live. That, is where it got crazy. I had three devices going to get a ticket, and I didn’t get through, and it sucked, but I didn’t care. I knew that if it went the other way, I’d be waiting in a line where it could be raining, and I could wait in this line with really no guarantee that I’d get cans, so for me it was actually better this way. But some didn’t agree. Literally minutes into the pre sale people took to the internet to air their grievances and some, in a bad way. Somebody was really mad about it and expressed how he felt all over the local beer forums, throwing a virtual tantrum about how much bullshit it all was. That, in itself, was fun to watch. I’ve waited in many lines at Proc, Tilted, Long Live, it’s all part of the chase. Embrace it or move on and try again. Or you could easily post an ISO on trade forums to get some.
The two beers that Proclamation released were Nomenclature, and Penultimate Unicorn. It’s the Unicorn that really got everyone’s attention, for a good reason. It’s a Triple IPA, a blend of their Derivative Galaxy, Citra, and Mosiac. Each of which are outstanding beers on their own. It’s the Derivative Galaxy that is one of my favorite pale ales, and one of my favorite beers period. So I could only imagine how good this was going to be. I missed out on the release, but my boy Ferro told me he scored some, and we would open one for the live beer share portion of The Franchise. It was an honor to try this on the show, but just a taste of this wasn’t enough, so I took to the trade forums and got a can. The Unicorn is packaged in pint cans, with an awesome foil label that reminds me of a Pokémon card. It pours a hazy pineapple juice color, with a tight one finger white head. The nose is sweet, overripe pineapple, mangoes, tropical fruits, followed by a slight citrus, grapefruit, and a touch alcohol comes through in the finish. The nose also reminds me of fruit salad, with that sweet syrupy thing going on, and hard tropical candies. The mouth-feel is really soft, medium light carbonation, but nice, without too much weight. It’s a beautiful softness that I really enjoy in a beer like this. The taste of this beer follows the nose, it’s all tropical fruit, passion fruit and mangoes upfront, like a tropical fruit candy, that’s been sitting in the package with the other candies, and you get a bit of them all in that one flavor, followed by a little bit of citrus, grapefruit, and then it finishes with a perfect bitterness that doesn’t stick. What sticks here is this amazing mild sweetness to bring it all together. I’m getting very, very little alcohol on the palate, which is an amazing feat. This is a 10% ABV that is so well hidden, it’s scary, because halfway through the glass, I’m feeling it in a real good way. It’s a perfect blend of the three derivatives, that is just super clean, and harmonious. This mythical beast is a rare one, and as pretty as it is, it will impale you with it’s horn if you’re not carefully caressing it. Proclamation is opening its new brewery and taproom in Warwick, RI. Cheers, this is another masterpiece. Attachments area Read More 990WBOB |
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