Ale Asylum Unshadowed Review

Name: Ale Asylum Unshadowed
Style: Hefeweizen
ABV: 5.5%

I have one more beer from Ale Asylum out of Madison, Wisconsin called Unshadowed. From my understanding, this is also one of their newest beers to be released and has been added to their year-round lineup. I also regret not snapping of a photo of the full label because I think the bottle artwork is extremely cool.

Picture courtesy of Beerpulse.com

Unshadowed pours a bright yet hazy orange color with a white soapy thin head. There is some mild visible carbonation and some soapy lacing.

The nose has a fairly sweet malted wheat and banana scent upfront. There is also some pale malts on the back end with just a light touch of floral hoppiness.

Flavor starts out with a banana sweetness which is followed up by some wheat & pale malts. Also much like the nose, there's also a light floral hoppiness on the back end of the palate.

The body is reasonably light and the carbonation is also very mild and quite manageable. I don't think anyone should have a problem drinking this.

Unshadowed is a fairly standard, albeit, good Hefeweizen and fans of the style will no doubt enjoy this. I would say that this is worth checking out if you aren't 100% sure what to get next time you go beer shopping.

Ale Asylum Unshadowed - 8/10

Ale Asylum Contorter Porter Review

Name: Ale Asylum Contorter Porter
Style: Porter
ABV: 4.8%

It's been about a year since I've looked at anything from Ale Asylum, so on my recent trip down to the Twin Cities, I picked up a couple of their offerings from Hudson, WI during my visit last month. The first Ale Asylum beer that I picked up from Hudson which I will be reviewing is their Contorter Porter, which has a lower-than-usual ABV of 4.8%. The label also invokes a Motörhead-esque sort of feeling but that could just be my imagination working overtime

Contorter Porter pours a pitch black color with a rather thin khaki colored head. The lacing left behind is somewhat sparse and the visible carbonation is seemingly mild.

The aroma has a fairly strong roasted barley scent upfront with notes of dark chocolate malts, cocoa and coffee grounds. It seemingly teeters between roasty and sweet almost.

Flavor-wise, it's definitely more sweeter than roasty. Starting out are some strong chocolate malts which transition into some roasted barley, coffee and some mild but noticeable hoppiness on the very back end of the palate. With that said, the aftertaste is quite roasty with no signs of maltiness

The palate as a whole is quite light in the body with some moderate carbonation. There is however a distinct creamy texture which makes this rather easy to drink.

At the end of the day, Contorter Porter is tasty and quite easy to drink. It's not too often you see "session" porters but this one ends up being quite flavorful. If you're ever in Wisconsin, I'd definitely recommend checking this out.

Ale Asylum Contorter Porter - 8.5/10

Ale Asylum Bedlam! Review

Name: Ale Asylum Bedlam!
Style: 7.25%
ABV: India Pale Ale (IPA)

Ale Asylum is a brewery based out of Madison, Wisconsin. The brewery itself just recently underwent an expansion according to the website, which would allow them to brew up to 50,000 barrels a year. From what I have gathered, Bedlam! is their summer IPA and no, that exclamation point is not a typo as it is in the actual name itself.

Bedlam! pours a hazy orange color with some high carbonation activity. The head is rather filmy in appearance but the lacing it leaves behind is quite abundant.

The aroma starts out with pungent citrus hop and yeasty notes upfront while caramelized malts, grapefruit and orange peels provide the backbone of the nose. It's a cross between caramel sweetness and fruity citrus in a balanced way.

Flavor-wise it's more straightforward with citrus hops, caramel, resin and a slight yeasty flavor. The flavor does carry over some of that caramel/fruity balanced I mentioned earlier but it isn't as obvious here.

The body as a whole is fairly light, both in terms of carbonation and weight so you're easily able to enjoy this without having to worry about too much carbonation getting in your way.

I think Bedlam! is a great IPA and would love to try out more of their offerings. Sadly Ale Asylum doesn't distribute to Northwestern Wisconsin or Superior yet but I hope they do soon! With their recent expansion, I hope that becomes a reality.

Ale Asylum Bedlam! - 8.5/10