Positive Friday - Lazy Sunday

This New England-style Hazy IPA presents a moderately hazed golden-amber color topped by a cap of off-white foam. On the nose, look for prominent tropical fruit notes to jump out immediately, evoking shades of pineapple and mango, along with plenty of citrus character conjuring candied orange impressions, plus some soft peach-like stone fruit tones. It’s a very juicy and fruity profile, as we expect for this style. Flavorwise, that cocktail of fruity hops shows up front and center, with the citrus notes cascading across the palate with both a juicy and a zesty character, the latter bolstered by a fairly bold bitterness for this style of New England IPA. Look for the malt backbone to offer a touch of caramelization along with some breadiness, plus plenty of satisfying smoothness. For pairing options, we’d lean into the fruitiness and try a peach-glazed roasted pork loin, or a teriyaki burger with grilled pineapple. Alternatively, lobster rolls, hot chicken wings, spicy biryani, or Thai pineapple fried rice can work well too. Cheers!

The story of Positive Friday is intrinsically linked to the venerable Millstream Brewing Company in Amana, Iowa, which opened in 1985. In March of 2021, Millstream was acquired by Steve & Susan Charlier and their business partner Justin Cohanim while the previous owners, Tom & Teresa Albert, continued as owners of the adjacent Millstream Brau Haus. The new owners sought to maintain the brewery’s core, often traditional German-style beers while expanding the lineup to include more contemporary styles. They also added a canning line to adapt to the modern demand for this packaging format.

Tom, Teresa, and Justin launched the Positive Friday brand in 2021 to provide an avenue to their brewers for experimentation into new styles and a more nimble vehicle for them to get these new creations into the hands of beer lovers much faster, and to a larger audience than the more local-centric Millstream brand. As Justin explained to us, at Millstream the process to introduce a new beer can take months, with multiple pilot batches sold largely out of the taproom. With Positive Friday, they’ve created a separate entity, one in which they hand the reins entirely to their very experienced brewing staff and tell them to come up with something new and exciting – which immediately gets created and distributed within just a few weeks, and to a broader market at that.

As of this writing, they’ve released several new beers including both West Coast and New England Hazy IPAs, Wheat Ale, Vienna Lager, German Pils, and a rather bold Irish Red boasting a stronger than normal ABV. We’re looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.