7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Draught at the Ginger Man, Manhattan, 10/9/16.
Of the four I had in the sampler, this, Bells Boon Companion, Industrial Tools of the Trade and Other Half Never Forever, this was by far the best, though that wasn’t saying much at all. Lightly hazy, deep golden-bronze body is topped by a medium-sized, off-white head with moderate retention.
Big strawberry-orange-pineapple nose signifies lots of PNW hops mixing with some definite juice hops as well. Seems like there must be Simcoe in this as it’s got that rather austere, pine-laden character, though it could be any number of PNW hops, I suppose. Regardless, it still manages some more easygoing peach, pineapple and very light mango. It’s well-balanced by a strong, caramel-infused honey-like maltiness. There’s some definite heat in here, and a shade of resin, but it’s quite aromatic and fresh.
Similar flavor profile with a malty texture showing moderate to moderately-high attenuation. Definitely comes across strong, though not boozy or too harsh, but with some resin, grapefruit and pine. The tropical fruit juice character helps mitigate to some extent.
Tried
on 29 Oct 2016
at 17:30