This next beer was a special treat. My wife and I had friends in town for a night last weekend to hello and pay their regards to the baby before heading up to points further north. These friends also just so happen to have a fondness for beer, so much so that one of them turned their fondness into a job brewing at Brix City in Little Ferry, NJ. It was a really cool experience sitting down to drink and talk about beer with someone so intimately involved in creating what we had in front of us.
Beer Name: Lychee Boom Boom
Brewer: Brix City Brewing
Style: Brett IPA
ABV: 7.5%
Description: Created in collaboration with three local (i.e. Northern New Jersey) pubs, this beer was a rare commodity; a Brett-fermented IPA brewed with lychee and heavily dry-hopped with Citra and Galaxy. I poured the sample for this review out of a 32 oz. growler we had opened the previous evening.
Appearance: Super hazy, with a murky and opaque yellowish-amber body. Some wisps of white head formed across the top.
Smell: A blend of tropical fruit, piney hops, and just a bit of Brett funk.
Taste: Very unique and distinct. Started out with pineapple and tropical fruit up front before the lychee took over in the middle along with a dank and piney hoppiness that crept in. These elements then built up to a finish that was quite unlike anything I’d come across previously; an aggressive bitterness mixed with lychee and an extra level of Brett induced funk. It built up to be pretty intense about half-way through, but in a way that slowed me down to really appreciate the flavors. Slowing down was perhaps just as well considering the beer gave no hint of the alcohol content.
Mouthfeel: Juice-like body with carbonation just shy of moderate. Worked really well in backing up the big flavor profile.
Hype Factor: There was definitely some excitement going into this beer: not only did my friend help make it, but I’d been eager to try a beer brewed with lychee for some time now.
Overall: I liked this beer a lot and found it both interesting and deliciously flavorful. It delivered on the lychee flavor I’d been hoping for and upped the ante with a finish that blew me away. I really enjoyed the creative mix of funk and exotic fruit, something that reminded me a bit of a beer Night Shift might have quietly put out while brewing away in their old warehouse location. If you like lychee and/or Brett IPAs, you need to try this, or any follow-up beers like it, if you get a chance. I’d be very interested in having this again and would also be curious to see a non-Brett version if such a thing could be arranged. Very nicely done.