04 Jun Copperhead Cherry Medusa 2017

Copperhead Cherry Medusa 2017

Copperhead Brewery

Conroe, TX
Belgian Quad with Cherries
ABV: 11.2%
IBUs: 25
Packaging: Draft, 4 pack 12-ounce bottles

The first time I ever had Copperhead Medusa, I genuinely only grabbed it because the label sucked me in, and I have a soft spot for Copperhead beers. To be frank, I don’t care for Belgian Quads at all.

They’re a time-honored style, so clearly I’m the oddball here, but I just don’t ever see myself reaching for the style. Sue me.

But when my friend Sam, one of our old writers, gifted me a 2017 Copperhead Cherry Medusa, I knew I needed to savor it.

I love cherries. Cherry Jolly Ranchers, cough syrup, Starbursts, actual cherries, you name it – I’m here for it. So I sat on this one for a while. Another admission, I’m not big on aging beers. I usually don’t have the restraint, and I almost never have the fridge space.

But somehow, this Copperhead Cherry Medusa held it down in the back of my fridge until tonight. Personally, I’m going through a rough patch for a number of reasons, and something about this beer beckoned to me.

With its red wax top and the siren-like illustration of Medusa herself, the label got me again this time. “Take a load off. Enjoy one of your more special beers,” the beer serenaded me.

The blue and red, snake-haired, lady-monster on the label turned me to stone. I grabbed my camera, and I did my best Josh Olalde impression while I poured the dark brown beer into my finest Copperhead glassware.

As the dark brown, crystal-clear, beer flowed into my gold-rimmed goblet, my senses were awakened. It wasn’t in a burst of fruit, though. Rather, it was a super subtle aroma that filled the air slowly like a snake wrapping around it’s victim.

Copperhead Cherry Medusa’s light, tan, head bubbled up into a finger worth of foam that laced delicately down my glass like venom.

The first sip of Cherry Medusa confirmed everything. I sat on it because it was special, and I opened it tonight for the very same reason. I felt vindicated in my cellaring this time as if I’d won a bet.

The sweet, bready aroma of dark grain, plums, and cherries oozed through the head as I went in for my first bite sip. My palette was greeted with bready sweetness like raisin bread, but there’s so much more going on.

Sweet, rich, complex, and fruity-esters dominate each sip as only Medusa could. The lively carbonation adds a refreshing mouthfeel to a beer that could otherwise be perceived as heavier than stone, and the medium body helped lend to the deception of this 11.2% snake. The refreshingly dry finish adds to that danger, as it lures me in for another sip.

If there’s one thing Seth and Copperhead Brewery do well, it’s turning that Conroe water into sneakily easy-drinking beer with an ABV that bites without warning. Copperhead Cherry Medusa was hypnotizingly smooth.

I’m not sure if any Cherry Medusa is on it’s way, but Copperhead just bottled a fresh batch of the base beer, and you can find it in bottles at HEB, Specs, Total Wine, and other places that good beer’s sold. But, since it’s in bottles, be careful on your way home not to expose them to the sunlight. Here are 4 lies you may have been told about skunked beer. Sometimes you can find Copperhead on Hop Drop and have it shipped to your door, and you’re in luck! They have some Medusa crowlers ready for delivery.