Difference & Repetition 5
Hill Farmstead Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

On-tap at Hellcat Annie’s, New York, NY

A: The beer is very hazy yellow in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a quarter finger high white head that died down, leaving a thin head covering the surface and thick lacing down the sides of the glass.
S: Moderate to strong aromas of grapefruit hops are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell and is quite citrusy, with notes of grapefruit standing out in particular. There is a moderate amount of bitterness. Flavors of grapefruit pith linger into the finish.
M: It feels medium-bodied and crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This is a good example of a New England style IPA. It’s nice and juicy without being overly bitter.

Serving type: on-tap

 

 

On tap at Pony Bar Upper East Side (I think the Hell's Kitchen one closed). Served in some kind of bullshit 11oz glass.

A: Semi-opaque yellow, looking like zero crystal malt involved in the making of this beer. Frothy white head sticks around, along with a wall of lacing.

S: Grapefruit, honeydew melon, orange juice, all tinged with earthy Simcoe and Galaxy dank. Awesome.

T: Exact profile from the nose, with Hill Farmstead's perfected cereal malt backbone. Melon, deeply succulent grapefruit-like citrus flavor, along with more hop complexity than I can come up with culinary metaphors for.

M: Light side of medium bodied, high side of moderate carbonation, juicy, pricklingly dry finish. Perfect.

O: Really, no one makes better 6% IPAs than Hill Farmstead. Shaun Hill is just untouchable in that regard; even all these really excellent new hopcentric breweries in NYC aren't even in the same ballpark. The malt flavor alone is worth the price of admission, and the essence of each hop used stays along for every sip.

I liked this beer so much, I got another one despite the funk rock and Temple of the Dog this bar is inexplicably pumping.