Susan

Growler. Pours hazy orange with a lasting, creamy white head. Gorgeous aroma, lots of peach, orange, melon and tangerine. Medium sweet flavor with lightly tangy citrus fruits, mellow pine needles, balanced pale malt sweetness, some earthy, lightly gritty bitterness. Medium bodied with fine, massaging carbonation. Refreshing, fairly resinous finish with more citrusy hops, grass, tangerine, peach, melon. Delicious beer, great balance. (4.4)

Growler at Bruce’s. lightly hazy gold with a light, frothy white head. Super juicy nose, orange, papaya. Light to medium sweet flavor, low bitterness but lots or fresh, juicy citrus fruits. Light to medium bodied with fine, massaging carbonation. Lightly resinous finish, some mellow dryness, citrus peels, orange, light grapefruit, papaya, melon. Great stuff. (4.3)

6oz pour at Farmhouse Tap and Grill in Burlington. Hazy orange, lacing, thin white head. Nose is big and zesty, grapefruit zest, scallion, lime, orange. Flavor is super juicy, lime, orange, pine sap, tropical fruit, kiwi, kumquat, light sweetness. Full, bitter, spicy finish. Awesome.

750mL growler, sent from Glouglouburp (thanks a lot, Dany!), pours a cloudy, completely opaque, dulled orange with a medium white head. Aromatics are incredibly orgasmic, like all Hill Farmstead hoppy beers, with loads of orange peels, mangos, peaches, truckloads of resinous hops and a big caramel malt backbone. Flavour brings out loads of tropical fruits (mangos, peaches and pineapple), juicy mandarin oranges, bitter grapefruit, and truckloads of resinous hops. Flavours are incredibly rich and deep somehow for only being 6.2% (I would guess this was more like 9% due to the flavour depth, not because of any boozy quality). Finishes quite bitter, on the grapefruity notes. Extremely refreshing and again, immensely flavourful. Must be the best non-Imperial IPA I've had. Most amazing.

Growlerette filled at the source two days ago. Pours a cloudy murky light yellow golden color with a decent sized bone white head that slowly fades to a smattering of lace. That aroma is intoxicating, literally! Wiked old school citrus of grapefruit, orange, and lemon with pine with hints of resin. If there’s malt in there I can’t smell it, but shit I don’t miss it, I’ve got a hop chubby. The flavor does hold some light bready malt but the citrus hop flavor is the dominatrix to my taste buds. Grapefruit, tropical fruits, tangerines, pine, resin its all there and it all melds together wonderfully. Smooth never harsh bitterness provides balance to the little malt I can find. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation and a smooth resinous mouthfeel. It doesn’t look like much in the glass, but that’s a damn fine beer right there.

On tap at Hill Farmstead Brewery and again out of a 750ML Growler in an HFS tulip at around 50 Degrees F.

A - Bright and cloudy. Unfiltered and full of gorgeous complexity as a super intense orange color. 3 Fingers of fluffy white head that seems to never go away at least over 5 minutes. Very resilient lacing on the swish and subsequent fiddling with the glass.

S - Citra hops dominate the nose. Huge grapefruit, tangerine and lime scents. It’s a citrus bomb with a hint of pine in the back of my throat.

T - Huge hop bitterness strikes first. Like Abner or Society 3, the huge citrus notes fill the mouth aided by a big and generous carbonation that is 2nd only to soda in the way the bubbles tingle and fill your mouth and keep on tingling. Huge level of fresh whole oranges juiced into a glass ice cold and refreshing. There is a chewy hop bitterness of pine needles and grapefruit with pineapple.

M - Medium body but a mouth drying carbonation. It’s not high carbonation but it’s how the carbonation interacts with the flavors to make the beer better. Susan on cask would simply not be the same. The small level of CO2 makes this beer so much better. Everything is accentuated.

O - This is an exceptionally well balanced beer for being so bitter. Every last drop was perfect. i was the first person on RB to review Society & Solitude #5. I gave that beer a 4.8 and, having both of these beers side by side tonight, I stand by that SC5 review. This beer is NOT the same as SC5 but it’s still delicious and drinkable. I won’t give it a 4.8 but it’s damn close. Great job, Shaun!