Mybeerbuzz .com Highlights Urban South Brewery Lime Cucumber Gose, Carpé Rosé, Paradise Park & Holy Roller Hazy Juicy IPA (Review)

While I’m lucky enough to get to try a lot of new beers, I’m always excited to try new beers from a brewery that I’ve never had a single beer from before.  And since this brewery comes to us from New Orleans, LA, I’m even more excited to get my hands on some of their stuff.

Today we’ll be sampling beer from Urban South Brewery and I’m happy to report, they are located in the same New Orleans Garden District neighborhood as their craft beer predecessors, NOLA and Courtyard.  Started in March 2016 by Jacob Landry, Urban South was built on the philosophy of “combining the heritage of European beer making with the brashness of new American styles” a philosophy not all that different from the city of New Orleans itself.  This Tulane graduate and former K-12 educator joined forces with Wes Osier and Kyle Huling to launch Urban South Brewery and as you’ll see below, their knack for unique beer combinations has really made Urban South stand out.  Obviously I want to sample some of those unique beers….so off we go.

Up first we dove into a new seasonal release from Urban South Brewery called Lime Cucumber Gose.  If the name isn’t intriguing enough, I promise you that when you pop the top, the aromas will draw you in quickly.  The beer begins life as a kettle-soured unfiltered wheat ale but from there it becomes a really unique combination of flavors such as Kosher salt, key lime and fresh locally-grown cucumber juice.  Aromatically this beer is a refreshing and enticing combination of a tart almost-Berliner-style wheat ale aroma with a prominent lime punch.  Once you sip, the beer definitely slides into the gose style with the salty and lime presence.  I was expecting an almost Margarita-like experience, but I think the cucumber juice really changes the game.  I thought the cucumber juice softened the mouthfeel and evened out some of the acidic lime, making for a really drinkable beer.  The overall balance definitely leans into a classic gose, but it’s hard to describe how well the lime and cucumber work together.  Lime Cucumber Gose hits a really sessionable 4%-AbV and a tart 10 IBU and it will be packaged in 12oz cans (and draft) as a spring/summer seasonal release.

Up next we decided to sample the new year-round beer Carpé Rosé.  This beer is a blend of apple cider and what Urban South calls a “light crisp ale.”  Of course there’s more….the beer is finished with cranberry puree and peach juice.  The aromas of this beer are really what I would call almost heavenly.  The nose does begin with a prominent apple cider aroma, but the tart cranberries and softer stone-fruit aromas really round out the overall package and make it really enticing.  The mouthfeel and body of this “beer” will make you think you’re drinking a hard apple cider as well as a beer and I challenge you to taste it with your eyes closed to see what your palate tells you.  I really liked how the tart apple and cranberry flavors worked with the “touch” of peach juice and the overall combination is just begging for a beach chair and sand between your toes.  At 5.5%-AbV & 10 IBU this beer is really drinkable and satisfying, and the cranberry finish really made me want to open another.

In addition to the new beers, Urban South was kind enough to send along Paradise Park lager & Holy Roller Hazy Juicy IPA.

Paradise Park is an American lager that uses Pilsner malt and Huell Melon hops.  The beer has a combination of biscuit malt and subtle hops in the aromas.  The flavors follow with a nice balance of cracker malt flavors and the accented citrus and grassy hops to clean it all up.  Overall the beer finishes dry and very drinkable and I thought it felt and tasted a lot like a traditional pilsner-style lager with a dryer bite at the end.  Paradise Park has a nice mix of crisp and clean and a more hoppy presence than I was expecting (in a good way)….and I suspect in the hot and humid New Orleans south, this beer gets even better in it’s own environment (guess I’ll have to fly down to check it for myself).  Overall I think this beer will be a very popular choice for a seasoned lager drinker as well as a great gateway beer for someone making the move to better lagers.

Finally we finished the tasting session with Urban South Brewery Holy Roller Hazy Juicy IPA.  This beer is the New England-style cousin of their original Holy Roller IPA and as expected the beer pours cloudy with a prominent citrus nose.  This variant certainly pushes the juicy hop flavors forward, but the blend of Mosaic & Citra were much more subtle (in a good way).  This beer definitely drinks more like a fruit-forward pale ale than an IPA, but I really liked how drinkable that made the beer.  Overall Holy Roller Hazy Juicy IPA is a really easy drinking and satisfying beer with a punch of citrus, lemon and tropical fruits taking center stage….so much so that I finished the 12oz can pretty quickly.  I look forward to trying this one again.

A big thank you to Urban South Brewery for sharing some of their New Orleans magic.  I really enjoyed all of the unique style-bending beers as well as the classic Paradise Park.  While I think Carpé Rosé and Holy Roller Hazy Juicy IPA were my favorites, each of the four beers I tried were unique and enjoyable.  Get out there and try these beers for yourself, and when you do try them, be sure to let us know what you think.

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