Tend
Half Acre Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois, United States 🇺🇸
IPA Regular|
Score
6.74
|
|
Tend Winter IPA. Seasonal beers, more than most, are big for beer makers to fiddle with the associations living in the recesses of your brain. In Tend, we’ve looked at the cycling, Gregorian hold-down that is Midwestern cold. Brewing beer for the cold, we think hearty, chewy beer. Give us color, increased density and heft to live with the sunken temps, but hopefully beers brewed in rhythm with the season push on associations. In Tend, a range of specialty malts tilt us into a Caramel, baked & toasted bread landscape ~ chord wood, simmering soups, wind-licked skin. Some of our favorite hops, Mosaic and Simcoe, bake-in the notes of pine and orange, berry marmalade ~ Norway Spruce, dense outdoor soundscapes only heavy snow can provide and fractalized horizons sliced-up by naked trees. Weighty Winter IPA brewed for wood smoke and fire to lift your mind out over the dim, long cold.
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3.1/10
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Appearance 7
Aroma 7
Flavor 0.5
Texture 2
Overall 0.5
Pounder can, darker orange tint. The photo here at brewver actually makes it look darker than it really is. Nose is sharper green pine cone. Reminds me of a fresh cut Christmas tree of sorts. First taste is as terribly bitter as any coarse discourteous uncouth IPA. Rude crude and boorish. Think turpentine, diesel, rotting fermented green grapefruit rinds and strongly bittter pungent chewing on fresh real rubber motorcycle innertube. This style is so difficult. I was never man enough to say I like it. My peers always said that I'd appreciate this stuff once my taste buds matured. Well, I guess my buds are still a baby. Finish is strenuous, arduous, onerous, burdensome, demanding, punishing, grueling and grinding. But at least it does have a decent co2 level for a change that keeps it from being medicinally mouth coating. Oh well, there, you have it; the words of a macro lager lover with girlie taste buds. And, it does have a decent alky level that makes worth more than a drain pour, hehehhehh.
Tried
from Can
from
Chalet Premier
on 12 Jul 2025
at 22:46
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
16 ounce can. Chestnut brown color is topped by a frothy beige head. Earthy malt aroma hints at sticky pine and citrus peel. This one has noticeable dankness right outta the gate. Sticky pine, grapefruit pith and lime wedges. Hints of black peppercorns and juniper berries on backend.
Tried
from Can
on 05 Dec 2024
at 05:05
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
On tap at Big Star. Pours a clear amber with a slight orange hue and a white head that dissipates to the edges. Aroma has pine with a bit of citrus rind and some bready malt underlying. Flavor is similar with pine and citrus rind throughout with a bit of bready grain backing.
Tried
from Draft
on 07 Jan 2024
at 21:49
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Draught at Middle Child Clubhouse: pours dark amber with an off white head. Aroma is pine and malt and some fruity notes. Sweetish, low bitterness. Fine.
Tried
on 19 Nov 2023
at 04:11
7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Keg at Fox River House, 12/10/22. Clear copper, thin tan head, average retention. Dank grapefruit aroma. Taste is grapefruit, toffee, resin, pine. Strong bitterness. Like it enough I had another pint at Fox River two days later.
Tried
on 17 Dec 2022
at 06:14
6.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
On tap at the brewery. Pours a cloudy orange with small off white head leaving sticky lacing. The aroma is grass and resin. Slick body, grapefruit, grass, light bitterness, very good.
Tried
from Draft
on 22 Oct 2022
at 20:46
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
The Aromas are a somewhat fresh blend of pine resin hops with some Citrus and little bit of weed. Add in some malt to that. Flavors are similar to Noah's with a nice blend of balanced Bitter, Sweet and carbonation. A taste of roast in there also. Good body and a mildly bitter finish.
Tried
on 23 Dec 2021
at 03:21
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Draft. Rich amber beer with a dark cream head. Light summer fruit aroma. Grapefruit and summer fruit flavor with light pine. Medium bodied. Good bitterness. Summer fruit and pine linger with light grapefruit and light herbal notes.
Tried
from Draft
on 03 Dec 2021
at 21:24
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
16oz can. Really well made, more classical IPA. Deep and malty. Balanced. Full bodied, drinks a lot heavier than all the hazy stuff. More satisfying in most respects. Crisper, more refreshing to drink. Almost a Red IPA, lots of malt depth. Memorable and delicious.
Tried
from Can
on 29 Nov 2021
at 08:30