25th Birthday Beer
Smuttynose Brewing Company

 

-hazy, golden can pour with a thin white foam cap and a light pine aroma. This really does taste like a jacked-up version of Finestkind, resin, pine, spruce and some grassy notes with a bit of alcohol heat and sweetness. -enjoyable

 

 

 

Make mine a Smutty! Poured into a 13 oz Snulip glass canned on 10/14/19. Pours a clear yellow with a half finger sticky white head that leaves a a thin wall of lace after each sip, with solid retention. 4

Smell is old school pine resin, biscuit, apricot, slightly floral, herbal, and grapefruit rind. 4

Taste follows pine, biscuit, earthy hops hard to explain, apricot, and grapefruit in the slightly bitter yet balanced finish. 4

Mouthfeel is bigger than medium, plenty of prickly carbonation, slightly dry, and at 8.2% goes down rather simple and drinks that way. 4

Overall if you are looking for a NEDIPA this is not that, but if you want something like the old days, when everything was hoppy and bitter, this has a lot of that, but with a East Coast influence. 4

Pint can 10/14/19
Opened and reviewed on: 11/22/19

Thank you Smuttynose for turning me on to so many great beer styles from the classic "Big Beer" series of 22 oz. Bombers. (RIP)

A clear golden color, white foam cap stands tall and holds on tight. Dissipates rather quick. Constant thin coverage is nice.

The hop aroma is incredibly sweet, tropical, juicy, piney and floral. The malt seems to give off a toffee and honey scent from golden grains. Not extremely pungent, but certainly inticing.

First sip is classic Finest Kind with it's lip puckering combo of bitter pine and dry earthy hop flavors. High alpha style acids.but..much more well rounded than the old classic Finest Kind, with more sweet fruity tones from the hops and Carmel tinged malt. Complex flavors that mutate slowly with every sip.

The mouthfeel is straight up DIPA with a bit more malt density than normal. Light and crispy bite, medium bodied that gets a bit smooth and slick in the finish.

Overall, it might not reach the quality of the Big Beer series era brews, but I still consider Smutty a vital part of my early BA days and this 25th birthday beer is hitting me just right tonight.

 

16oz can dated 10 /14/19.

Pours clear yellow with an inch of white fluff. Nice retention and lacing. The nose is subdued for the style with grapefruit and pine. Medium bodied with a crisp, tacky mouthfeel. Pine and grapefruit on the palate with some balancing malt and a firm bitterness. Finishes with some tongue-numbing booze and pine.

 

Decent NEIPA, but odd this style chosen for such an anniversary. Pours hazy golden, with nice citrus amid malty aroma. Flavor is similar if unexciting. Fairly clean finish. Decent enough I'd happily have another, but there are many better of the style these days.

Canned 10/14/19

Pours a clear golden straw yellow with two fingers of white foam; great retention fades to a chunky cap, lasting collar of foam, and a thick layering of soapy lacing caking the glass.

Aromas are floral and grassy upfront, making way for candied pineapple and flaky malt into a medley of dank citrus rind middle and a touch of sharp grapefruit pith to close.

Taste opens with tangerine and cherry skins; weedy tones doused any citrus develop along the mid-palate, and culminate with vivid notes of fresh pineapple, incense-laced strawberry, and grapefruit zest.

Mouthfeel brings a medium body along with a carbonation a touch higher than moderate; tingly, resinous hop prickle lingers until a touch of bitterness bursts through on the finish, though is quickly leveled by a light, crisp, and clean malt backbone.

A soft DIPA of evenly spread flavor harmonizing east coast elements into their flagship while never falling out of balance; nothing inherently stunning, but a nice, modern homage to the classic kind of IPA these guys are still capable off.

Can from a Lazy Dog
Pours a slightly hazy deep gold color with decent sized frothy off white head that quickly recedes. Aromas of sweet bread and tropical fruits mostly. Hints of apricot and light earthy spice. Mild warming alcohol decent beer.

Light golden semi clear color with a 3F head.

Fruit is indistinct at first. With warming, grape, melon.

Light body. Not much carbonation.

The taste is a bit lackluster and not well defined. Grape, melon.

Overall, a decent DIPA. Not great. Lots of promo and hype on the can.
All the collaborative breweries. Tribute to Finestkind. Hmm... I like the latter better than this beer.

I have tasted a lot of beers from the brewery which I have enjoyed. This is not a fitting 25th anniversary beer.
How about a wheat wine on steroids? One of my favorite brews from the brewer and cellars well. Perhaps they should stay away from IPAs and concentrate on high ABV, distinctive beers like the latter.

The IPA “market” is saturated. Branch out into a distinctive style few breweries will experiment with.