Upland Brewing Co. - 2018 "Latitude Adjustment" pale ale

Today I'd like to comment on perhaps one my favorite refreshing beers, a winter seasonal called "Latitude Adjustment" from Bloomington, IN-based Upland Brewing Co. And yes, this pineapple coconut pale ale is a winter seasonal beer! Formerly released in December, it's the perfect counter to the heavy, sweet stouts that seem to permeate this season. Similar to Caldera's "CocoNutty Blonde", it's light, bright, and full of flavor. This is supremely refreshing and definitely in my top 20 beers of all time. I could drink this all day!

But I won't have the chance. Not to bring this party down, but when I had pre-pandemic drinks with Sam, the DC rep for Upland, he broke the bad news to me over a pint of Upland "Dragonfly" at Zeppelin bar - 2018 was the last year for Latitude. They've discontinued it! Hugely disappointed and a major bummer. Winter 2018 was their final batch, I'm told. I'll never see it again. 

But wait.

I was at [redacted liquor store] recently, and as I was perusing the IPA section, saw a very lonely six-pack behind some Bell's stuff that I thought I recognized. I took a closer look, and yes! I couldn't believe my eyes. The blue six-pack box. The dude sunning himself. The familiar words. Could it be?

It was perhaps the last Latitude Adjustment six-pack this side of the Virgo Supercluster.

I immediately extracted it and brought it up to the counter. This was it! A wonderful afternoon of drinking one of my favorite beers was ahead of me...or so I thought. Then I remembered the beer was last brewed almost two years ago. Which meant that this beer, in my hands, was also brewed two years ago. My heart sank, and upon further investigation, the beer was in rough shape. The bottles had a small film of beer mold on them from some other leaky bottle somewhere (not harmful, but best to wash off) and each bottle was labelled "Best by July 2019." Not good. But the store owner gave it to me for free, due to the condition, so nothing lost really. I'm mostly going to have them as an experiment, as light and fruity ales don't age well. 

Good hiss opening the bottle, so that's fine. Poured it into a tasting glass; no discernible off flavors here and in fact a touch of coconut.  

Yeah, it's pretty stale. Not revolting, but definitely a mere specter of its former self. The flavors here are definitely muted with a heavier malt flavor and a thick taste of stale hops. It's pretty dry and dusty, and while it's got a touch of that coconut and pineapple, it's not a presentation of what the beer should be. The back end has a fleeting grasp of pineapple and a dusty finish. 

Well, this sucks. But I'm actually kind of surprised how much of the original flavor is actually there. Obviously let this be another cautionary tale to not age your beers!