Clairvoyant

My first brewery in Boise was clairvoyant. They had a solid lineup of traditional styles with a nice tasting room with five dollar pints. I tried four tasters before moving onto the next spot.

The English pale was delicious with notes of apricot and light earth the hops over a soft body. While I would’ve preferred to be lower alcohol, it was nicely balanced and easy drinking, my favorite of the bunch. The Brown ale had light notes of coffee with mild roast and a good dry finish. It was fairly thin though and lacking in flavor.

The IPA was crisp and dry with mild herbal Hoppy bite and light resin. Though the beer did not have much hop aroma, it was nicely balanced and easy drinking. The Belgian Dubbel was tasty with notes of raisin and mild caramel with a nice dry finish, not overly sweet. Though they did not brewer any hypermodern styles, I was generally impressed by the beers I had at clairvoyant and could have easily drank a pint or two of the English pale.

Top 2:
English Pale
IPA

Woodland Empire brewery

Woodland Empire was quite the impressive brewery with a good lineup and some solid reasonably priced sours. I tried a few of their base beers before moving onto the sours. They had a fairly good-sized indoor area with seating as well as an outdoor patio where most the people tended to go after ordering.

Electric warrior stout was nice and roast the with mild bitterness and a creamy body on Nitro with an excellent dry finish. The amber was smooth and easy drinking with notes of dark fruit though not particularly flavorful or interesting. The Helles was clean and light with mild hop character and good dry finish. The place to stand IPA was nice and juicy with a resinous background, light bitterness, and notes of bubblegum, citrus, and tropical fruit. This was one of my favorites of the bunch.

The double IPA was resinous and lightly bitter though fairly subdued in hop aroma. It was fairly decent. I also ordered a bottle of their cranberry sour to drink on-site because it was only six dollars for a 500 mL bottle. It was nice and oaky with subdued fruit and mild white cake flavor with light funk on the finish. I brought home a few bottles of this beer. While I was there, I also tried the mandarin orange sour, though it was a bit more subdued in fruit.

Overall I enjoyed the beers at Woodland Empire brewery and if in the area would return for their barrel aged sours. Though I quite enjoyed their sours, I didn’t have anything that would suggest they are at the level of De Garde or Jester King. B

Top two:
milk stout
IPA