NEARfest Apocalypse In 9/8
Allentown Brew Works

Hey, this is a great DIPA, definitely the best hoppy beer I've had from the folks at Brew Works. Despite weighing in at nearly 10%, where a lot of DIPAs get heavy, but it drinks more like a 8% beer. The dominating hops character is a pungent floral perfume with resinous pine and a tinge of earthy spice. It drinks surprisingly smooth at first, but the big bitter hops kick in for the strong finish you'd expect. This is a beer in the spirit of the Alchemist's Heady Topper, check it out.

 

A - Pours a nice copper hue and the one fingered head gradually subsides to leave an even white layer over the top. Viscous looking and clings to the sides of the glass.

S - Aroma is resiny and full of overripe grapefruit and tangerine peel, sweet pine, and candy caramel malt all blending together to create a sweet and spicy pungency.

T - B old and resinous, spicy, grapefruit and pine bitterness, sweet tangerine and floral presence, and alcohol warming. The spicy bitterness coats the mouth with big spicy tangerine, pine, and grapefruit bitterness which is long and lingering and finally loosens its grip on the palette to let the floral character surface.

M - Thick and full bodied (pretty heavy for the style), sticky, viscous, slick, smooth and gentle carbonation glides over the tongue.

O - This is a very assertive beer and will probably be a love/hate thing for alot of people. If you're a hop head like me, this is definitely worth checking out, Brewworks has a real winner with this beer.

This poured out as a nice looking clear copper color with a decent white head on top. The lacing was nice and sticky leaving a nice webbing down the glass. The smell of the beer was big! Very big! Loads of citrusy hops and with some minor undertones of sweet malt in the distance. The taste of the beer pummels the taste buds with pine and citrus bitterness. The malts balance out the intensity with a gentle sweetness. The mouthfeel is lightly carbonated with an oil like body to it. Overall I thought this brew was damn good. I was glad I got to have some for sure! Hope they'll bottle it and sell it around here someday.

Appearance is light copper with a finger of head that dissipated quickly leaving only a trace of lace on the mug. There is a pleasant citrus aroma to this offering. The distinct hoppiness is fairly even throughout and it compliments the citrus notes very well. There is a mild presence of alcohol, but this is very drinkable for clocking in at a touch under 10%.