The Sugar House Shuffle 

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• Mike Riedel

Hopkins - Victory; For Peace: Proceeds from this special beer go towards Razom, an organization that helps supply critical materials such as medical supplies, food and clothing to the people of Ukraine during emergencies. To learn more about this organization and how to donate, please visit razomforukraine.org.

This dry-hopped saison pours an orange-tinged, unfiltered body with an everlasting several fingers of white foam clinging to the glass. Bubblegum aromas emerge, with earthy and spicy notes, followed by orange marmalade and lemon zest, along with the typical saison notes of white pepper and light clove phenols.

The flavor is wheat-forward, with some nice interplay from the unabashed hop presence. Lots of tangerine and lemon qualities are present as well, with slight tropical and grapefruit notes. A spicy dryness plays well with the intense yeastiness. The multi-grain malt bill helps bring some complexity to what can sometimes be a thin, overly-attenuated style with very light flavors despite the 5.0 percent alcohol. That's where the dry-hop comes in to really push some extra aroma/flavor without making it feel too dry or bitter—chewy and viscous with a lot of crisp bite to it regardless. It tends towards the heavy side for the style, due to the large amount of yeast present. Some sips feel like a smoothie, but that's kind of a thing these days anyway.

Overall: This is a really good ale. The malts in this push things into a slightly more complex direction, and the dry-hop is appreciable, though not too heavy-handed. It's more apparent when the beer is chilled, so keep that in mind when approaching this one. It's very enjoyable, but you have to be a fan of hops to get the most out of it.

Wasatch - Top of Main Series (Raspberry Ale): This isn't Wasatch's first raspberry ale. Hell, my first experience with a raspberry beer from Wasatch was back in the mid-'90s with Raspberry Wheat Ale. This is not that beer; it comes from the flagship brewery in Park City, and seems quite different.

The color is beautiful: a deep brownish-red with a light haze when held up to the sun. The head was also just as lovely, ushered on by a nice amount of carbonation; it was actually a very light pink, and just over an inch thick. Right off the bat, the scent of raspberries is almost overpowering, surprisingly like they used real raspberries. There are also faint undertones of blackberry and malt, lacking any bitterness. I'm not saying it doesn't smell good, because it does. I think the fruitiness just threw off my game.

First swig didn't blow me away, but when I tried my second, it definitely made more of an impact. I was all ready to write about how fruit beers were wearing on me—considering I love fruity drinks under most other circumstances—but my second taste really turned that around. Right now, as I'm finishing off the draft, it almost resembles a bubbly, fermented malt-fruit soda poured into a glass previously used for beer. Right? Right.

Overall: Raspberry Ale has a light feel to it, and at the end of the drink, it manages to leave a slightly dry feeling in my mouth and a slight sour taste on my tongue, but nothing terribly unpleasant. The raspberry continues to drift throughout my mouth after swallowing, and the carbonation bubbles lightly in my stomach. It may be the warmer weather, but this fruit beer really spoke to me, increasing my enthusiasm for spring and summer.

You'll find Top of Main Raspberry Ale in cans and on draft at Wasatch's locations. Victory; For Peace is on-draft only, exclusively at Hopkins Brewing, which just happens to be doors away from Wasatch's Sugar House Pub. As always, cheers!