Vortex Hands
Fort George Brewery + Public House

Look: Yellow and slightly opaque with a velvety-looking head that settles to a lid and leaves sheets of lacing clung to the glass

Aroma: Cantaloupe melon, diesel-heavy Cannabis, pomelo, pine sap, ripe nectarine, navel orange, musty mandarins, and bready malt

Taste: Opens up with a big time hit of ripe nectarine and mandarins, along with some must and quickly begins developing depth. Melon, pomelo, and pine work in and take charge in the middle as diesel swirls around, peeking in and out occasionally before nectarine and orange-led citrus return and everything shines through the close that includes a nice bite

Mouthfeel: Full, smooth, clean, medium-high carbonation, and felt dryness on the finish

Overall: This is some tasty stuff. My other collab purchase along with Vortizafa and like it, this is a delicious and well-executed combo of both Vortex and Sticky Hands. The melon, nectarine, and diesel that I get in SH is there as is the citrusy and piney notes Vortex displays and honestly, like Vortizafa, Vortex Hands drinks and tastes like you blended the two beers on your own. Fun to try and definitely worth checking out

BLOCK 15 / FORT GEORGE VORTEX - JOINED BEER 7.2 abv
This is a collaboration between these two breweries. They worked to produce a great brew.This beer is a semi sweet green apple and grape blend of tastes. The beer is made with the following hops: Simcoe, Comet, Mosaic, Chinook, and Apollo which give the beer an unusual but wonderful taste. Get a can if available as its really good.

16oz can, 2025 canning, pours clear light straw, amply carbed, white head. Hoppy, piney, resinous, citrusy, floral - clean finish, consistent body, well-executed.

Poured from a 16 ounce can dated 3-27-25 into a tulip glass at 50 degrees.

Look- Pale gold, moderately hazy, plentiful tiny visible particulate, white frothy head, above average head retention, average lacing.

Smell- Clementine, dank, pine resin, between medium and high strength of scent.

Taste- Pine resin, clementine, herbaceous, high strength of flavor.

Feel- Between medium and full body, average carbonation, highly bitter, highly creamy, mildly dry finish.

Overall- Pale gold with moderate haze and plentiful tiny visible particulate. Bouquet was a nice blend of clementine, dank and pine resin. The flavor follow the nose with some herbaceous/pith character. Body was fuller than expected for the style, which I liked, with high bitterness and creaminess. This was a delicious beer that provided an outstanding drinking experience. I thought it was an improvement compared to Sticky Hands and slightly better than Vortex, but not quite as excellent as DDH Vortex.

no surprise this is fire, so clean and fresh, so flavorful and bold yet also so drinkable, love that fort george does some fun stuff with vortex every year, and i couldnt miss this one. on tap its gorgeous, deep almost brassy golden with high shine, perfect clarity, and a sparkle in the sunlight, an inch of lasting pillowy white head and plenty of bubbles, really a nice looking beer. the nose is wildly fresh, both sticky hands and vortex seem like influences, not quite recognizable to me in their original forms, which is probably the point, and its not like i get to drink those two beers every day, so my palate recognition might not be on point, but i love what this is, grassy and lush, verdant with notes of green tea, spruce, gin botanicals, lemon peel, green grape, and fruity cannabis, very appealing, insane freshness, a little bit of earthy and biscuity malt support. the flavor is right there with the aroma, with a sort of instant intensity, an early start for the hops but never out of balance, and the pungency stays, only the bitterness escalates a bit, it warms to mandarin orange, pineapple candy, bubble hash, pine sap, and cur flowers, delicious, northwestern, timeless, but also original and highly repeatable, not too bitter, not forced, love the light maltiness in here, and the texture is as good as the nose and taste, prickly excited carbonation, oily resinous hops, lingering bitterness all very pleasant. delicious beer, they nailed this, a coming together of two greats, excellent result here, woefully underrated i reckon too...

Canned March 27th 2025, from Good Times Oakland.

Gorgeous clear pale gold, substantial head of foam, good retention and lacing.

Smell is piney, resinous aroma, light toasted malt, very inviting.

Taste is pine, citrus light fruity hoppiness, toasted malt, all in all, almost as good as the smell.

Sticky mouthfeel, which I dig.

Excellent IPA.

 

16oz can from Brewers Haven. Clear golden pour, nice, fill, fluffy white head. Hoppy aroma, earthy, pine, caramel. Taste is resinous, citrus. Sticky feel, mouth coating. Mild sweetness and not overtly bitter. Smooth, creamy.

16oz tallboy can purchased at Bottles, in Millwood, WA, for $4.99. Canned on March 27, 2025.

Clear golden amber in the glass, with a big, sudsy, rocky head. Lots and lots of lace.

BIG hoppy nose. Definitely detect Simcoe and Mosaic.

Citrusy and joocy up front, with a slightly pithy bitterness. Manages the odd trick of ending on a note that is dank AND sweet. In between are all the hop flavor tropes of citrusy, tropical and stonefruit tastes.

Medium bodied, with an oily, resiny, yet creamy mouth feel.

Really dug this. Bottles, which is well out of my way, is the only place I've seen it so far. Might be time to pay a visit to Community Pint and see if they've got it as well.

 

 

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a lightly hazy, medium golden amber with a two finger white head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of lightly caramel and pale malt, citrus and piney hops, orange, pine, mild mixed tropical fruit and and little dankness. Flavor follows, with lightly caramel and pale malt, citrus, dank and piney hops, orange, pineapple, mixed over-ripe tropical fruit, pine and catty dankness. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Lucky to grab a can of this as it lasted on the local market for a very brief time. As expected from a collaboration from two excellent IPA breweries, this is a flavorful and nicely bitter IPA. It's a bit busy, hitting all of the West Coast hop flavor components as well as a little tropical fruit as is the current custom. The flavor is interesting, starting like a crisp piney and citrus ale, then a burst of tropical fruit that fades quickly into a piney and dank finish. The malt was fairly light in the finish, but there is so much going on with the hop bill it worked out well. The ABV puts it on the border of an imperial IPA. I'll get this again if it ever shows up. Nice collaboration.

From a crowler canned 4/28. Clear pour, a solid finger or two of head. Nose is mostly pine / cedar with a good measure of dankness. Lots of flavor on the tongue with bitterness coming in on the sides. Malty background on the finish as well, which is the contribution of B15. We still pick up the dryness of a regular Vortex as well. Great job of combining two PNW IPA champs and getting t5he best of each. Coming up to cellar temperature helps to unfold more tasty things, so patience pays off.

A special tip of the hat for the helpful lady in the FG merch/beer store. She first confirmed that there was no Vortex Hands left on premise and then guided us to the local Growler Guys outfit who were the only store in Astoria which had some on tap. The store was on the main drag as you come into Astoria from the east on Highway 30.

Can from Uptown Market

A mildly hazy orange with a dense off-white head with good retention and lacing. The nose is a nice blend of dank pine and overripe orange, fruity, juicy and vibrant. Mango. Mild malt, light honey, a little English base malt. The palate is clean, rich, fruity and dank. A little overcarbonated, which ruins the feel. Drying, Bitter, dank and fruity on the finish. Yum.