Now this is the story all about how
some yeast got flipped and shared around town.
And I’d like to take a minute, you just sit right there.
While I tell you how this beer’s so good it ain’t fair.
In North Houston Texas, it was born and raised
But from Conroe is where it started it’s days
Thanks to the homies out at Southern Star
I got to drink a bit and write these bars
Ok, ok. I’ll stop.
Last weekend, Chris, Josh, myself, and a few of our friends were out at Southern Star celebrating Chris. He won their veteran VIP party giveaway, and he was kind enough to bring us along with him.
D’awww.
Love that guy.
We tried Southern Star’s Daisy Chain NEIPA, and while I wish I could’ve reviewed it for you like this one, it’s tough to do on site, especially when we’re all cackling at one another trying to convince one another to just go with it on some BS answers in Scattergories. We totally got shushed.
Anyhow, fast forward a few days later, and 11 Below releases their Daisy Chain IPA. Nick was kind enough to score me a crowler of it, and man-oh-man, am I glad he did.
The packaging is a big fat crowler, and the label looks like Brandon, Bryce, Jeff, and Keenan made Nick chug a beer, spun him around a few times, and then told him to apply it to the can blindfolded. Oh, Nick. You so crazy.
11 Below Daisy Chain IPA pours like straight juice. A bright orangey-yellow color and rocky off-white head built the anticipation in a big way while I channeled my inner Josh Olalde and snapped these shots.
Remember when I said to take a minute and just sit right there? That was inspired by the head on this beer. It sticks around like a needy girlfriend, and I just love that. It’s my favorite quality in a woman beer.
As the beer splashes around to the moat of towels beneath it, waves of mango and oozing peach pummel my nose like those dudes on the Philadelphia playground did Will. Everything about the nose on this beer screams juice box thanks to healthy helpings of Citrus, Mosaic, and Amarillo hops.
Sip after sip, the foam continues to crawl down the glass with legs that seem to go on for days. Not sure which metaphor I’m going with here – the clingy girlfriend or Fresh Prince – try to keep up, though. The medium body meets the prickly carbonation for a super refreshing beer that I’d welcome year round.
11 Below Daisy Chain IPA drinks with all the Fruit by the Foot fruitiness mentioned above, but the finish is the real kicker. A long, looong, dry finish of nothing but hops both delights and teases, as it pulls me in for another sip. There’s some bitterness and a dankness on the finish that takes me right back to freshman year. And Fresh Prince. And clingy girlfriends. And it’s all starting to come full circle.
Frankly, it reminds me a bit of Hipster Sauce, but in a less balanced way. Where Hipster Sauce balances the malt backbone with the fruitiness, 11 Below Daisy Chain IPA goes all in on the hops, leaving the malt on read. The super long, dank finish also reminds me a bit of Parish Envie.
Unlucky for you, this 11 Below Daisy Chain IPA is brewery only, so depending on what side of town you’re on you may be fighting traffic to get out there before it’s all gone. Luckily for you, though, it’s not all gone! Yet. This is the juiciest beer they’ve ever made, and you don’t want to miss it.
In case you’re wondering what in the world the Daisy Chain is, Southern Star starts off brewing a beer with a single strand of yeast, and that same yeast is then harvested and passed down to other Houston area breweries. Check out more Daisy Chain beers from Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company, Back Pew Brewing, BAKFISH Brewing Company, Brazos Valley Brewing Company, Copperhead Brewery, 8th Wonder Brewery, Eureka Heights Brew Co, Brigadoon Brewery, Fetching Lab Brewery, Blackwater Draw Brewing Co., Bearded Fox Brewing Company, Lone Pint, SpindleTap Brewery, Sigma Brewing, Platypus Brewing, Great Heights Brewing Company, Southern Yankee Beer Company, Holler Brewing Co., Baileson Brewing Company, City Acre Brewing Co., and Whole Foods Brewing.
My Overall Rating
4.3
11 Below Daisy Chain IPA
In conclusion, 11 Below Daisy Chain IPA just proves what we’ve been saying since day 1, these guys don’t make a bad beer. Ever.
It’s not the thick, creamy, super haze that some of the hypebeasts are chasing, but it’s got more juice than Bishop and Q. It’s a perfect candidate for the hazy ≠ juicy convo that we’ve been dying to have, and beers like these are good any time of year. What’d you think of it overall? Let us know by dropping a comment below or voting it with a single click. Beers to you, Houston!
Anthony's a Houston native, a Creative Strategist at https://ledgeloungers.com/, an adjunct instructor of Visual Communication at Lone Star College, and a UH Coog that loves good beer almost as much as he does his city. Anthony lives to help others and that's found a home helping some of the coolest breweries on earth with creative and marketing projects that can be seen on our Portfolio page. Fueled by hoppy lagers, sessionable IPAs, and gangster rap, he's ticked his way through H-Town, rocking the most unusual Nikes he can find. When he's not writing for us, he's with his family or very patiently rooting for the Rockets.
No Comments