Inspiration Libations 

• Mike Riedel

Shades - Painapple Cocokiller: This beer was inspired by a cocktail called the Painkiller, which was made famous by the Soggy Dollar Bar, a hotspot in the British Virgin Islands. It's quite similar to the piña colada, except this has a bit of nutmeg added to make it different. I thought the nutmeg may be off-putting, but it actually works.

A stream of bubbles ascends with a light yellow tint, flowing up from the beer as it pours and giving it a lovely light golden hue. Over time, the bubbles condense on the surface of the beer, forming a thick layer of white froth and exposing a slightly hazy orange-yellow beer underneath. The thick head of foam quickly diminishes, leaving a beautiful layer of foamy lace on the glass's sides.

The aroma has a noticeable amount of tartness mixed in with a distinct aroma of pineapple and coconut. Both a strong milky cream scent and a mild citrus sweetness of orange, tangerine and nutmeg are present at the same time.

The flavor starts off with a bread base flavor and a slightly sweet pineapple and coconut essence. There are some tropical fruit tastes up front as well, with notes of tangerine and banana being the most predominant. As the flavor develops, the fruit flavors all slightly wane but are gradually replaced with a sweetness reminiscent of caramel and nutmeg; the taste of milk or crème emerges simultaneously on the tongue. A slightly strange touch of fruited wheat bread lingers on the tongue, along with notes of some mustiness and a little bit of hay. Due to the light carbonation, the body of the beer is smooth and creamy. I thought nitro conditioning would be nice here, but I think CO2 lends itself better, and would keep it from becoming cloying.

Verdict: If you like piña coladas—even if you don't like getting caught in the rain—you should enjoy this offering, even with the nutmeg addition.

TF - La Neige: This West Coast-inspired IPA features Cascade and Strata hops. This beer was made in conjunction with Salomon Skis and Snowboards to celebrate the company's 75th anniversary. A percentage of proceeds from this beer will go to Protect Our Winters.

This East Coast-meets-West Coast IPA pours an unfiltered light caramel body with two-fingers of white head that lasts about as long as a returned missionary's courtship. Many lacing remnants linger in sticky rings. Although aesthetically darker than I've come to anticipate from the new wave of IPAs, it looks wonderful. Citrus, pine, caramel, passion fruit, dank hop resin and gritty pale malt all emerge on the nose. This one is "danker" than the majority of TF's recent releases.

Juicy grapefruit and pine resin come forward on the first taste in almost equal amounts—just enough to make my tongue tingle from the hop notes, but not quite enough to overpower the grainy, pale malt sweetness that appears as caramel, honey and a little toffee. Don't worry, though, because the end delivers a powerful pine hop kick to the face: a pine-forward bitter finish that is both dry and thirst-quenching, with great carbonation, a lovely mineral quality and a soft, velvety yet substantial medium body. It's excellent, though I've come to expect nothing less from Templin's IPAs lately.

Verdict: Great stuff—nice sweetness, complexity and balance to this IPA. The appeal here is mostly that it works for both camps of IPA lovers. I would certainly recommend going for this if you happen to find yourself in SLC, as this beer is fresh and newly released.

You can enjoy these in either establishment or to go. There should be plenty to go around, even though they are seasonal releases. As always, cheers!