Belt’s Beer Garden: What an Anomaly!

Woven Water Brewinghails from Tampa, Florida and have been serving the Tampa Bay area for the past few years now.

I’ve heard rave reviews about their sour ales but have yet to actually try one of their beers. Well, that all changes today. I didn’t get one of their sours OR one of their IPAs…instead I have a different type of brew, an Anomaly.

Anomaly is a Lager brewed with Hallertau Blanc hops and malted oats with a solid 5.2% ABV. It recently won the 2022 bronze medal for the Best Florida Beer in the Hoppy Lager category according to their website and each 16-ounce can cost about $6.

This oat Lager poured a hazy golden color with about a finger of pure white head topping it off. It looked more like a hazy pale ale than any lager I’ve seen. The head quickly fizzled out into a thin ring around the edge and left minimal lacing as I drank the beer.

On the nose, it offered up those expected elements of cereal and oatmeal but it also had a lot of citrusy notes that I was not expecting. There was a nice lemony tartness and some orange/grapefruit rind characteristics that were just as noticeable as the oats. It gave off a light and crushable summer ale vibe and I was very intrigued to find out just how it tasted.

It began with a creamier and much more sturdy body than I was expecting from the aroma. The oats really made it soft and fluffy. The oats also hit big almost immediately in the flavor. They start to crawl out after a second or two and then get stronger and stronger as the sip goes on, until they completely take over on the back end.

The lemon and citrusy qualities peak out after a moment or two and offer up that splash of tartness before fading underneath the grains once again. The Hallertau hops offer up a hint of bitterness as well but it is a very tiny twinge and quickly overpowered by the grist.

It ends rather clean, with just a bit of dryness and some of that pithy orange peel and creamy oat quality lingering on for a few moments.

This beer truly lives up to its name - a big Anomaly. It’s very oaty and creamy. But it’s also very light, citrusy, and crushable. If a hazy IPA and a pilsner had a baby, it was this! Very confusing and, yet, I couldn’t put it down.

If you like oats, this is a beer for you.