Magic Hat Roxy Rolles

I was so excited to try this that I cracked a warm one open last night. Do not do that. Magic Hat beers are not known to be conventional. Their ale wizards boil their brews in cauldrons with mystical ingredients like gillyweed, blast-ended-skroot ass and peaches. If you fail to follow the simple, unwritten chill-and-enjoy instructions, you’re strapping on your silly. I was pretty sure that I drank concentrated benzocaine because of the comfortable numbness and awkward cherry-acid flavor.

Reboot!

Pours a burnt orange color under my skewed pinkish overhead lighting. I smell Hot Tamales and HOLY HOPS Batman. Also, grapefruit. Taste- felt like I’d been ROUND-HOPPED in the jaw. WOW. Delicious! The spices are so subtle you might call this a Pale Ale or an IPA if you taste it blind, but if you wait for it after the hops hops-a-long, you get a cinnamon leave behind which leaves a dainty burn that I like. I would even welcome it a little stronger. I’m considering drinking this while eating red-hots just to see if I can look into the future. The grapefruit flavor is not there, but the citrus bitterness is real and IT IS SPECTACULAR.

This will have a higher “mass appeal” than the Harpoon Winter Warmer just because of the subtlety of the spices. The problem is that this could easily be a year-round offering. It’s not special enough for me to be a seasonal. I think the balance tips toward the ordinary. Anyone who calls the spices too strong has uber sensitive taste buds and should consider a career in tasting.

Note: I have revised the rating after having more. This beer is fabulous.