Introducing Krystin, our new beer blogger! Krystin will be blogging off-Fridays (alternating with Adam Shugan) as well as some odd spots on spirits once a month or so.

 Krystin:

I love beer especially, but I also love anything fermented and/or distilled with flavor. One could say that I am a flavorholic. I’ll taste pretty much anything and everything at least once and pretty much like anything and everything I taste no matter how unique, unusual, or different. All I ask for is a little TLC and a passion for local.

I’ve completed the first level with the Cicerone Certification Program – Certified Beer Server – with plans for Certified Cicerone,  and completed one course at the Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Acadamy (Professional Beer Tasting & Styles) with plans for many more. My love for beer, writing, pictures, food, and liquid libations has culminated in this: my ever evolving blog of beery bliss, distilled discoveries, and cocktail geekery. My hero is the great Beer Hunter and Whiskey Chaser Michael Jackson.

This weekend, we got Krystin to review a pair of craft beers worth trying on a hot and sunny weekend.

Breckinridge 471 IPA

Appearance: dark orange with copper and amber highlights. A pithy head is raucous with lacey blotches scattered all about. Swirls bubbly and chunky.

Nose: massive mandarin orange pith. Hints of banana peel. Washington apples amidst the orchard, air heavy with musk and the impending harvest. Aloe plants. Rind and peel and oily zest. Sticky up front and in the middle but finishes dry.

Palate: oranges and spice – rindy, dry, and pithy. Banana peel in the breath. Mango and guava skin. Sweet and sticky then raw tropical fruit skin notes. Aloe plants abound. Juicy piney and minty hops in the middle, prickly almost, putting the tastebuds on high alert.

Final Thoughts: not overly complex but big, bold, and demanding of attention while also managing to be extremely quaffable. Given the 9.2%ABV this is a deliciously dangerous combination…but I like danger and I really liked this beer.

Islander IPA

Appearance: pours clear orange with a touch of chill haze. Gorgeous pithy head is clumpy, lacey, wispy, bubbly, and thick. Swirls thicker.

Nose: orange, mandarin, mango, and lemon. Dew-dropped flower petals and green grass. Zip and zest. Floral esters in the back.

Palate: chewy and meaty with orange, mango, and honey up front. Dry finish of citrus skin and inner pith. Chewing on green grass heavy with morning dew. Pith parches while skins bitter and thirst ensues. Floral esters lightly tinge the breath.

Final Thoughts: simply good and straight to the hoppy point – pith, skin, resin, oils, zest, grass, dew.

Beer blogger Krystin Lier--the Beer Ambassador-- Hwy 60 Vero Beach ABC.