7.9/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Strong rosehip bouquet. Clear amber, thin head. Rosehip and apricot. Medium body, soft carbonation. Loads of Centennial hop character. Wonderful!
Tried
on 13 Apr 2021
at 23:42
6.6/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 4
Overall 7.5
Clove and nutmeg aroma. Cloudy orange, thin head. Lemon, biscuit, allspice, clay. Light body, moderate carbonation. 8 2 7 2 15
Tried
on 15 Mar 2021
at 22:15
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Cocoa, charred oak, pine nose. Cola brown, medium cream colored head, nice lace. Cocoa, grapefruit, charred oak. Medium body, easy carbonation. Nice example of the style.
Tried
on 10 Mar 2021
at 21:16
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Very deep and dark brown coloured body with a very thick, five to six centimetre tall rich brown head that fades very slowly - nice and deep! Aroma of grass, pine (of course), alcohol, resin and a tiny bit of candy, light malt and cleanser. Medium-bodied; Very rich malts show at first with a lot of sweetness, mainly from caster sugar and even some light apricot and orange fruits with a sweet, syrupy and resinous note that adds even more sweetness - this time with added complexity, but also some alcohol and malt at the end. Aftertaste is rich, deep, slightly floral, but not very bitter at all - some sweetness and alcohol peeks around the edges, but no pine, no 'sappy' flavours and hardly any floral notes at all to speak of. Overall, a fairly nice, deep and brown, very malty IPA with some dry, floral and grassy notes, but not the sap, pine and bitterness that I was expecting. Good to sample, especially on Christmas Eve EVE, but not as good as some others...but the balance is good for the style. I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can, purchased from Wegman's in Alexandria, Virginia on 05-December-2020 for US$1,99 sampled at my house here in Washington on 23-December-2020.
Tried
from Can
on 05 Mar 2021
at 05:28
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Deep, ever so slightly hazy and muddied brown, amber and ruby tinted body with a two to three centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of caramel, toffee, earth, grain, hay and a good dose of nuts but the hops here are nice and do show some grapefruit and pine with the alpha acids. Medium-bodied; Strong and pungent earth comes through at first with a heavy dose of toasted malts and some figs with a pleasant level of sweetness coming from the caramelised sugars and toffee. Aftertaste shows mainly the deep malts and the hops with an earthier and grainy side coming through and a dry, more grassy note towards the end with pine, grapefruit and caramelised sugars are finishing this off, but the bitterness from the hops is still central. Overall, a nice and rich, grainy and pungent, hoppy beer that shows a nice balance throughout and a good sweetness to complement the hops. I sampled this twelve ounce can, purchased from Total Wine in Alexandria, Virginia on 24-October-2020 for US$2,49 sampled at my house here in Washington on 12-January-2021.
Tried
from Can
on 13 Jan 2021
at 09:02
7.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Dark brown coloured body with a fairly fast-dying light brown head, only a single centimetre tall. Aroma of roasted malt, toast, molasses, pine and a touch of grapefruit with some noticeable hop bitterness. Medium-bodied; Relatively rich roasty and caramelised sugar flavours dominate with a lot of pine and floral notes as well, that present the bitterness in a softer and more compact package, but some of the roasted and burnt malt notes add to the bitterness. Aftertaste is relatively strong with the hops showing at first, but a good balance between the remaining sweetness (from caramelised sugars and fruit, even!) and the rich malts which linger on for a while afterwards. Overall, a pretty nice beer and one that gets the balance right, but also the profile and the complexity, with a good sweet note that shows alongside alcohol and dry oatmeal. A style that I miss with all the unfiltered plain malt IPAs, but this one was good and worth finding for those who also wish there was still more Black IPAs, especially in fall/winter! I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can, purchased from Total Wine in Alexandria, Virginia on 24-October-2020 for US$5,29 that was brought into the store on the same day, but sampled at my house here in Washington on 13-November-2020.
Tried
from Can
on 10 Dec 2020
at 07:09
6.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6.5
Very crisp and clear, deep bronze and copper coloured body with a two to three centimetre tall oily, soapy tan head that keeps up decently. Aroma of apples, caramelised sugars, toffee, earth, flowers, bitter grain and a hint of curacao. Medium-bodied; Deep, super earthy, nutty and incredibly floral hop notes and especially bitterness come through, with a sticky toffee and grainy element and almost specialty grains as malt with a ton of bitterness throughout and seemingly no sweetness. Aftertaste is crisp, very robust, fairly straight-forward and is both astringent and floral, with a lot of floral hops hitting at the end with bitterness, but also grassy and floral malt characteristics that hits without real depth or complexity. Overall, pretty funky and deep with bitterness and pungency without being easy-drinking! Not worth grabbing this, despite the name or the graphics on front. I sampled this sixteen ounce can, purchased from Total Wine in Alexandria, Virginia on 24-October-2020 for US$5,29 sampled at my house here in Washington on 07-November-2020, the day that Joe Biden was reported by A.P. to be the next president-elect of the USA.
Tried
from Can
on 09 Dec 2020
at 05:36
6.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Tangerine and green onion. Golden pour with good head and lacing. A little candied apple. Tangy finish. Can.
Tried
from Can
on 14 Nov 2020
at 02:46
5.5/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6
Ever so slightly hazy copper and bronze coloured body with just about no head at all, and what is there is about a single centimetre of an off-white head that fades fairly quickly. Aroma of metal, light malts, nuts, earth, flowers, yeast and a bunch more, super astringent and pungent metallic twang that is bitter and slightly unsettling. Light-bodied; Strong and pungent nutty, earthy and especially biscuity characteristics with a lot of lager notes throughout that translate into bitterness and a very crisp bite that's pretty astringent and very dry. Aftertaste shows the biscuits, light caramelised sugars and toffee with a lot of nutty, earthy and grainy characteristics at the end that lets up slighlty, but is still quite strong. Overall, a very deep, super dry and one-dimensional marzen with a grainy and very malty characteristic without much sugars at all, no real fruitiness and a simplistic, mild finish. Not great and while I wish I could recommend this, there are others, better, even from here in Virginia or close by. I sampled this twelve ounce can, purchased from Total Wine in Alexandria, Virginia on 12-September-2020 for US$2,29 sampled at my house here in Washington on 07-November-2020.
Tried
from Can
on 08 Nov 2020
at 09:00
4.8/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 4
Hazy golden and orange coloured body with a very thin and ultra-fast-dying tan and off-white head that starts at only a centimetre in height and goes to nothing - just like a cider, after a few seconds. Aroma of soured yeast, brett, lactobilly notes, grass, hay, flowers and a bit of deep apricots, peaches and citrus fruits - quite strong in the nose, complex and long-lasting. Light to Medium-bodied; Super effervescent (that's where all the bubbles from the head went!), with a deep and astringent, pungent, throw up (puke) like flavour with some dry floral and grassy elements, but the yeast, lactose, slightly soured fruit and pure funk flavours show throguh and make this all a jumbled mess. Aftertaste is pungent, deep, assertive and again, just plain funky. The lactobilly and odd brett notes come through, but so does some bready yeast and a lot of soured fruit like underripe apricots and pure lemons. Overall, not a great beer and way too funky to seriously consider as a beer for the style...it feels like an accident that they were willing to sell to us masses...and they got at least ONE idiot! I sampled this sixteen ounce, pint-sized can, purchased from Total Wine in Alexandria, Virginia on 12-September-2020 for US$3,99 sampled at my house here in Washington on 24-October-2020.
Tried
from Can
on 30 Oct 2020
at 06:00