I had head good things about Nashville’s Bearded Iris brewery, though I had never tried anything from them before. So, returning home from a Christmas visit with family in Spring Hill, I picked up a growler of their Scatterbrain IPA at Wild Hare Beer Company. Looking at their website, IPAs make up the bulk of what they brew, with a few other styles thrown in for good measure. They seem keenly fond of “New England” Style IPAs, though I am sure their numbers will dwindle when that fad passes, as most fads do.

They don’t say much about Scatterbrain on their website, but they do say this:

Scatterbrain

IPA - 6.0% - 100% Simcoe Oated IPA

4 packs of 16oz cans

I did get my growler at Wild Hare for $8, which is not too bad actually. We drove back to Canton, Georgia and I drank it the same day I bought it. I was not impressed, as you are about to see.

Which is not to say I don’t like the “style”. In fact, I enjoyed a Tailgate Fire Emoji after this beer, same “style”, also from Nashville. Enjoyed it much more.

Bearded Iris Scatterbrain pours to a slightly hazy pale orange color with a thick foamy head and a soft grapefruit and resiny pine nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a thin malty palate to my taste with a pronounced grapefruit rind and juice aroma and flavor. There’s some resiny pine too, and I like those things, but the thin maltiness hurts this beer. The finish is balanced but not really bitter.

Two things really work against this beer for me. In a world of thin malty IPAs, this one was thinner in malt than most of them. Two, the finish was lackluster, and didn’t give me the smack of hops I expect.

I’ll try more beers from bearded Iris for sure. I won’t buy this one again, though.

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