Zen
Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Session Rotating|
Score
6.89
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Session IPA
Zen is our balanced, bright & hoppy Session IPA. Born out of a series of experiments during our first year of brewing, Zen quickly earned a spot in our core can lineup, eventually transitioning to our seasonal squad in 2017. This year, we doubled Zen’s hop load, primary hopping the beer — adding hops in the early stages of fermentation — before dry hopping it, a novel technique that increases citrus and fruit aromas. Zen is currently a draft-only beer, available in limited quantities exclusively in Cincinnati.
Zen is our balanced, bright & hoppy Session IPA. Born out of a series of experiments during our first year of brewing, Zen quickly earned a spot in our core can lineup, eventually transitioning to our seasonal squad in 2017. This year, we doubled Zen’s hop load, primary hopping the beer — adding hops in the early stages of fermentation — before dry hopping it, a novel technique that increases citrus and fruit aromas. Zen is currently a draft-only beer, available in limited quantities exclusively in Cincinnati.
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5.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Poured from can dated 3/18/16 thanks drfabulous hazy lemon gold with a thin white head. Aromas of floral notes citrus and minimal hops. Taste is not pleasing somewhat medicinal I can only imagine this fresh.
Tried
from Can
on 07 Aug 2016
at 16:32
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Canned 2/19/16, drunk 7/7/16, from JSquire, thanks!
At a whopping almost 5 months of age, I clearly wasn’t planning on rating this, but I was incredibly impressed and the beer was fantastic and drinkable even now. Past that, I’ve bumped up the points based on the even hoppier goodness I imagine this to be fresh.
Clear, light, honey-gold body is topped by a medium-sized, white head showing moderate to moderately strong retention.
Light nectarine, orange zest-like marmalade and touches of lemon and grapefruit sit softly atop the clean, biscuity malts that provide very light honey-vanilla and cream of wheat-like notes. No alcohol or flaw, no resin and just an even, inviting, crisp floral-yellow fruit-and-citrus character.
Soft, well-attenuated with medium amounts of mostly engaging carbonation. Immaculately clean and though all of the hops haven’t faded, with still enjoyable nectarine-mango and spiciness from the mosaic, as well as soft orange zest and lemon from the cascade, the bitterness has all but gone. Amazingly, the beer is still balanced, the malt not becoming too dominant and no off-notes whatsoever being exposed. Impressive. Good intro to the brewery (not counting the ciders) and excited to try some fresher beers from them.
At a whopping almost 5 months of age, I clearly wasn’t planning on rating this, but I was incredibly impressed and the beer was fantastic and drinkable even now. Past that, I’ve bumped up the points based on the even hoppier goodness I imagine this to be fresh.
Clear, light, honey-gold body is topped by a medium-sized, white head showing moderate to moderately strong retention.
Light nectarine, orange zest-like marmalade and touches of lemon and grapefruit sit softly atop the clean, biscuity malts that provide very light honey-vanilla and cream of wheat-like notes. No alcohol or flaw, no resin and just an even, inviting, crisp floral-yellow fruit-and-citrus character.
Soft, well-attenuated with medium amounts of mostly engaging carbonation. Immaculately clean and though all of the hops haven’t faded, with still enjoyable nectarine-mango and spiciness from the mosaic, as well as soft orange zest and lemon from the cascade, the bitterness has all but gone. Amazingly, the beer is still balanced, the malt not becoming too dominant and no off-notes whatsoever being exposed. Impressive. Good intro to the brewery (not counting the ciders) and excited to try some fresher beers from them.
Tried
from Can
on 19 Jul 2016
at 16:54
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
12 oz. can from thebaldwizard. Thanks Joe! It pours a light golden yellow color with an off white head. The aroma is dextrinous and sweet with bread and toffee. Some peach, orange and pineapple in there as well. The flavor is more floral and piney with lighter notes of orange and grapefruit. Strong spicy/citrusy bitterness. The body is light to medium with good carbonation. I’m getting a lot of Cascade character, but very little of the Mosaic. Pretty well done overall.
Tried
from Can
on 10 Jun 2016
at 13:57
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Can, which overflows with foam when popped. Pours a clear light gold with a thin head minus the foam that spilled over the glass when poured (I hate cleaning crap up on the basement floor...) Aromas are faintly lemony with a hint of honey(?) sweetness and little else. Flavor hits first with nondescript bitterness that then is ever-so-slightly sweet (remember the honey?) with a hint of lemon on the tail end. As a session IPA, this is decent... but it’s still pretty boring. The malt and hops play nicely together and still give a bit of hoppy punchiness without slipping into hop tea mode, but it still lacks brightness.
Tried
from Can
on 31 May 2016
at 22:29
6.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
Can. Page golden body with a fizzy, white head, diminishing. Aroma of grapefruit, grain, light resin, citrus, orange. The flavor is moderately sweet and lightly to moderately bitter. It finishes lightly to moderately sweet and moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Taste of lemon, citrus, pine. Weak backbone. Average stuff.
Tried
from Can
on 12 Feb 2016
at 14:31
6.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
12oz can thanks to Jeff. Pours out a hazy gold topped with a sand head. Nose is nice hop notes tangerine and some light cereal. Taste is more of the tangerine citrus touch a little malty sweetness end is light bitterness. This is pretty nice and a easy drinker.
Tried
from Can
on 04 Dec 2015
at 20:10
6.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
12oz can pours a mostly clear orange with plenty of frothy, white head. Nose has crackery malts, grist, some earhty Parmesan rind, some grass and hop, straw. soap. Flavor has some odd pizza sauce notes, then the traditional IPA kicks in, orange, tangerine, pine, soap. Crisp finish.
Tried
from Can
on 18 Jul 2015
at 19:42
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Can shared at a tasting at Ariel’s place. Thanks drfabulous for this can! Hazy golden with a white head. Nice citric hops aroma. Flavor of citric and slightly piney hops, rather dry, with a bitterish finish. Light to medium-bodied. Nice and easy-drinking.
Tried
from Can
on 20 Jun 2015
at 10:19
7.3/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Pours a nice lightly hazy orange with a white head. Light floral notes with fruity hops and a bit of sweetness. Thin, bubbly body. Flavor is very much of hop juice. Resinous, floral, a bite of pine in the back. Finishes pretty thin and quick with light lingering hop bitterness. Pretty decent session brew.
Tried
on 12 Mar 2015
at 13:40