Three step

A trilogy from the core range of Colorado's Ska Brewing today. First up is Rue B. Soho, a lager with added grapefruit. Quite a lot of added grapefruit, it seems, because that's what jumps out from the first sip. There's an almost smoky tang in with the sweet candied rind, plus a gentle buzz of bitter aspirin. The crisp biscuit base serves to accentuate the fruit, and the whole thing is rather well presented. It manages to be flavoursome and interesting while also refreshing and clean. It's certainly streets ahead of any number of syrupy fruited beers, bringing all the flavour without any residual sugar.

Residual sugar, lactose specifically, I thought I'd find in abundance in Steel Toe, Ska's milk stout. But no, this is actually quite dry for the style. The foretaste is a lovely dry burnt-toast roast with even a lacing of smoke about it. A tangy bitter bite follows it, and only on the fade out do we get milk chocolate; even with the emphasis more on the chocolate than the milk. Strangely again it finishes cleanly with no milkshake residue left behind. While not at all the beer I expected, it's highly enjoyable.

The finisher is Decadent, by name and nature, it being a 10% ABV imperial IPA. It looks quite innocent -- a bright and cheery shade of orange -- but the boozy citrus punch is apparent right from the aroma. It smells intensely bitter, like aspirin, while also quite syrupy; sickly even. That sharp lime-peel bitterness dominates the flavour, the fruit intensifying to the point of tasting waxy. There's a complexity behind it, however: a more subtle romantic mix of flowers and chocolate. The syrup I detected early on does come out in the finish, along with a tramp-lager heat, but neither dictates the overall shape of it. This is hops first, lots and lots of old-fashioned, tongue-stripping, acidic hops. Needless to say no vanilla or garlic notes feature. I wouldn't drink a lot of this, but I find it heartening that double IPAs of this stripe are still out there.

Ska Brewing (founded 1995) may be part of the furniture as regards American craft brewing now, though that's no reason to ignore their work if you've not tried it recently.