Self Reliance: Motueka (Double Dry-Hopped)
Hill Farmstead Brewery

 

On tap at Bierhaul in Thornton, PA.

Very nice and kind of a different IPA! Very nice!

 

 

 

This one pours a semi-hazy golden yellow color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells semi-acidic, with sour lemon, white wine, lime, and oak.

Whereas the DDH Mosaic version in this series was the beer that most closely came towards the idea of an actual IPA, this one is the one of the more aggressive and funky entries, for whateve reason. It's very sour and very funky - loads of lemon peel, barnyard, tons of white wine barrel, some light vanilla, and a nice oak character. Maybe it ended feeling more funky because Motueka is kind of a funky hop varietal anyway. It throws lots of lime flavor on the beer here.

This is light bodied, with a long and lingering acidity on the back end. It's a slow sipper, but it's definitely enjoyable.

I've had nearly every beer in this series so far, except for that elusive HBC 586. This is interesting, and perhaps surprisingly, one of the most sour and aggressive entries, if not purely the most of those characteristics. It's still good, but I much prefer the defter touch of the just regular Self Reliance Motueka.

 

 

750 mL bottle. Cloudy yellow. Smells of herbals, white grape, and tropical fruit. Tastes lightly tart with some lime, herbals, bright sweet grapes, and a bit of oak. Medium body. Another delicious dry hopped beer from HF.

From a 750ml bottle, ‘bottle conditioning since 08/14/20.’ Served in a tulip.

Pours a lightly hazed and glowing, bright butterscotch-yellow with a scant two fingers of loose and sloppy, foamy head. Retention is fairly decent, leaving a fizzy collar and a rousable thin, slippery sheet of lacing.

Nose is equal parts funk and citrus. Mildew and lime with an elusive aroma of vanilla cream.

Taste is tart and tangy, mildewed wood, lemon juice, lemon-lime. The funk is loud and brash but, letting it set on the palate, there’s a soft, sweet, cakey quality to it as well that comes in on the back end and fades in and out of focus.

Feel is creamy-slick, medium-bodied and brightly carbonated.

Not to be unduly pedantic, but I’m not sure how this is an IPA? More likely a Belgian PA or Brett beer. At any rate, it is more aggressively bretty/funky than I recollect anything else in this series having been - but that’s just from memory.