Southern Tier Compass

Well I have come to the realization that there are some breweries out there that I just don’t like, because I don’t like the majority of their beers. Case in point Southern Tier Brewing Company in NY. I only like their Crème Brûlée Stout. I find their other beers to be strong and somewhat too hoppy. Here is Southern Tiers Compass, 9.0% ABV, a bottle conditioned imperial sparkling ale brewed with rose hips and citrusy hops. Compass pours a deep straw color that is almost orange with a three and half finger off white head that sticks around for a little while which leaves behind some lacing, but nothing note worthy there. I found a big amount of carbonation there with very little to almost no light coming though the glass. The aroma is like grapefruit and light grassy straw. The taste on Compass is bitter and strong up front with little effervescent. They said it was effervescent on the side of the bottle, I guess that is a misprint. I would not say that compass is overly bitter is a medium bitterness that really hits you with grapefruit and a grassy like note with the faintest biscuit note, it’s almost not there. Well there is another misprint. The taste is fruity with notes of light lemon, big grapefruit, and slight orange. There aren’t really any floral flavors to this, which I didn’t really find. Oh look another misprint. Southern Tier really has to work on or stop misprinting thing on there bottles. More I drank Compass the more it taste like a hoppy pale ale (extra pale ale) and not so much like a sparkling ale. The taste on Compass was what I thought it was going to be when I bought it. That is kind of misleading. There is a bit of some piney flavors to this on the back end with no really presents of and good malt flavors. The mouth feel is medium and Compass finishes a bit on the hoppy side with a hoppy aftertaste of bitter grapefruit and faint oranges. Overall I was not impressed with Compass and it lead to believe that I might not like most Southern Tier beers. So Compass gets a D. I think it is just too much, too much hoppy flavors and to much alcohol. Why does this need to have a 9.0% ABV. That is the way I think of almost all of Southern Tier’s brewers. I like their Crème Brûlée Stout, which is a good beer. I don’t really recommend Southern Tier Compass. I wouldn’t buy it again.  I don’t know what it is trying to be, an IPA, a double IPA, Pale Ale, or Imperial Sparkling Ale. I don’t know, nor would I want to know.  So if you think you might like Southern Tier Compass, go and try it for yourself. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!