Sonic Haze
Starr Hill Brewery

From a mixed 12 pack from the food lion in Verona Va enjoyed in the hotel. Pours mostly hazy dark straw with a fuzzy white head that persists. Earthy tropical and citrus with bread and cracker to counter. lightly gritty mouth with a light tartness. Not bad.

 

 

 

On tap, pours a hazy orange, like a NEIPA should. Smell and taste are fruity and a little dank. Good, smooth feel. This is a really solid beer, very enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

Pours thickly translucent with a white, not even 1 inch, concave head. Looks like a tropical punch or a dirty orange juice. Held up against my computer screen it shows copious and rather large particulates suspended throughout.

The initial aroma was kind of a funky lemon, but that moderated into light pineapple, and perhaps mango, with orange.

The taste is moderately bitter hops with sweet malts peaking on the swallow. Tartly citric with tropical notes, especially pineapple. The bitterness lasts throughout.

This is possibly the heaviest IPA I've ever tried. Thick, but only moderately syrupy, not sticky. Great flavor retention.

This is a really good beer. Nothing offputting, not even the funky lemon. It's got a lot going on, with the various and evolving flavors. I'd definitely drink it again.

 

From a can into a pint glass. Pour has a 1" off-white/cream foam head with a pale orange body with some haze/particulate. Scents are an inviting array of floral and tropical fruits with virtually no bitterness on the nose. Taste follows pretty well, with just a twist of something a bit bitter present. Feel is smooth -- almost creamy -- and medium bodied with a slightly more bitter aftertaste than the nose or initial taste let on. If you want something with more fruit/floral hop flavors without as much bitterness, this is a hazy IPA for you.

Can dated 3/10:
Medium haze bordering on cloudy, frothy head. Light burnt yellow/orange with a dash of extra burnt. Pops with hops and a light sweetness, specifically citrus though the “juice” of the sweet notes creates a nod towards the tropical. That said, there’s an impression of vegetal/earthy hop bitterness surrounding things.

The taste exposes this bitterness in a decent way, for my palate. I actually think the sweeter aspects screw this up slightly. The malt/adjuncts(?) bring an artificial sweetener aspect - though it doesn’t ruin the beer like that might sound.

So I decided to give the smoother feel I think the sweeter aspects bring a boost to that category. I think if this were just a hazy IPA with a cleaner malt profile, I’d like it a notch or two more. It edges up to the aspects I like in a NE IPA, but keeps its core on the sweeter side.