Head Full of Dynomite v.56: Riwaka
Fremont Brewing Company

even a few months old this is among the best in this series to date, and an epic expression of riwaka hops, a varietal i always find gets lumped in with other new zealand hops and so rarely gets to stand on its own like this, clearly it is more than up to the task, i adored this! matte and uniformly hazy, a little deeper than straw colored but not really into the orange range, maybe just, high white headed from the can, decently dense. almost impossibly pungent in aroma and flavor, didnt know riwaka to be this bold before, huge coconut flesh, green papaya, fresh flowers, and drippy ripe honeydew melon, incredible profile and extremely distinctive, like as striking as when i first tasted mosaic and hbc 586 or sorachi ace, that remarkably unique, and all of it comes through in the flavor, some white wine character, some pineapple sage, juicy meyer lemon up front, more herbal later, definite coconut all through it, so fresh and almost healthful to me, subtle blueberry and elderflower blossom too, wildly complex for being a single hop varietal, and supported well by a fun host of malts that really fluff this up and extend the hops without making the beer outwardly sweet. airy and lighter than it looks to drink, good carbonation, and modest bitterness, this is more dry hoppy to me than anything, juicy fruit gum, watermelon rind, aloe, white grape, and honeysuckle, as good a hop profile as any of these have had, absolutely loved it and am not keen for more riwaka forward beers, this gives me a new appreciation for the varietal!

A very good HfoD offering here, probably one of my favorite for the series overall, which has been getting better as of late I believe. Textbook southern hemisphere hop profile with a bunch of exotic fruitiness, passion fruit and pink grapefruit and green honeydew melon, lime, citrusy with just a touch of green herbal character. Juicy and smooth, very good!