(C) 2016 popsonhops
Tasting: June 10, 2016
Style: Imperial IPA
Beer # 966
ABV: 8.6%
Softly Spoken Magic Spells
Singlecut Beersmiths makes music a regular feature in the names of its beer. While some are subtle references, Softly Spoken Magic Spells is immediately recognizable as lyrics from Pink Floyd’s song Breathe from the legendary music collection, The Dark Side of the Moon:
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells
The Wall from Pink Floyd introduced me to the group and it served as the soundtrack of my high school years – you know – “We don’t need no education” and all that. I went on to collect the group’s albums and wore them out in my tape deck and on my turntable. The Dark Side of the Moon was an immediate and immense success; it topped the Billboard chart for one week and remained in the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. The album sold 50 million copies and is one of the best-selling albums worldwide.
Puzzling to me that Singlecut Beersmiths doesn’t create the same whipped up hysteria of fellow New York breweries like Other Half and Grimm. For that matter, any of the other regional breweries. Maybe its the lack of cans. Who knows but as long as I can regularly find their beer I’m happy to keep it a secret. I recently read that the brewery was so overwhelmed by the acclaim of this beer that they will be making it as part of a regular rotating offering. Maybe their days as hidden gem are already gone.
This imperial IPA certainly has a assertive tangerine citrus up front and follows with a dank, smokey flavor. Pithy hop punch. Finish is mellow and pleasant. Not as pillowy as a Trillium beer but nonetheless, it’s an outstanding imperial IPA. 94 points.
