Riwaka Pale Ale | Hill Farmstead Brewery
Brewed by:
Hill Farmstead Brewery
Vermont, United States
hillfarmstead.com
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 5.20%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
An American Pale Ale bittered, flavored, and dry hopped exclusively with one of our favorite hop varieties: New Zealand's rare and difficult to obtain Riwaka!
Added by Brad007 on 12-31-2010
View: Beers | Place Reviews | Events
Ratings: 166 | Reviews: 34
3.86/5 rDev -12.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.18/5 rDev -4.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.26/5 rDev -3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.66/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.9/5 rDev +11.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
4.55/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
On tap at Blackback Pub in Waterbury, VT.
This one pours a hazy soft looking orange color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.
Smells like lots of mango, pineapple, spice, lime, and grapefruit. There's a really exotic feel to this one.
I'm really not sure If I've ever had anything with Riwaka- but if this beer is any indication (it obviously is), then I really like Riwaka hops. There's some definite lime and passionfruit, which is cool, with some grapefruit, pineapple, and orange, and basically no malt character. There's a slight bitterness on the finish, but this definitely has less of a bitter bite than most HF IPAs.
This has a really really juicy mouthfeel- it's like drinking a cloud. I love it.
What's the point of even reviewing Hill Farmstead anymore? You know they're all going to be so good.
816 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
On tap at Blackback Pub in Waterbury, VT.
This one pours a hazy soft looking orange color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.
Smells like lots of mango, pineapple, spice, lime, and grapefruit. There's a really exotic feel to this one.
I'm really not sure If I've ever had anything with Riwaka- but if this beer is any indication (it obviously is), then I really like Riwaka hops. There's some definite lime and passionfruit, which is cool, with some grapefruit, pineapple, and orange, and basically no malt character. There's a slight bitterness on the finish, but this definitely has less of a bitter bite than most HF IPAs.
This has a really really juicy mouthfeel- it's like drinking a cloud. I love it.
What's the point of even reviewing Hill Farmstead anymore? You know they're all going to be so good.
816 characters
3.91/5 rDev -10.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 3.75
750ml growler, freshly filled, poured into a Hill Farmstead oversized wine glass. Enjoyed on 8.19.16, reviewed from Tasting Journal.
The beer pours a bright orange and copper color, hazy and cloudy with a foamy white head, about a finger and a half high that has great retention and yields beautiful lace. The aroma is of white wine grapes, citrus peel, tropical fruits that starts off very sweet but explodes with a rye like spiciness and doughy malt, really offsets the sweetness, but it's still hard to say it's balanced. The flavors are good, the rye spice is no surprise this time as it leaps out of the glass, earthy and malty with some tropical passionfruit, citrus rind, mineral water, doughiness that lingers with hardly any bitterness. The mouthfeel is nice, smooth, coating, lively carbonation that is soft and gentle with, medium body and a smooth finish, lightly dry.
Verdict: A nice pale ale from Hill Farmstead and a very interesting hop. It reminds me a lot of Nelson but heavier on the spice while still being tropical and fruity. I don't know if I would race to have a beer that is a single hop Riwaka again, but I'd certainly not turn one down. Definitely a great expression of the hop, but perhaps not my favorite hop.
1,241 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 3.75
750ml growler, freshly filled, poured into a Hill Farmstead oversized wine glass. Enjoyed on 8.19.16, reviewed from Tasting Journal.
The beer pours a bright orange and copper color, hazy and cloudy with a foamy white head, about a finger and a half high that has great retention and yields beautiful lace. The aroma is of white wine grapes, citrus peel, tropical fruits that starts off very sweet but explodes with a rye like spiciness and doughy malt, really offsets the sweetness, but it's still hard to say it's balanced. The flavors are good, the rye spice is no surprise this time as it leaps out of the glass, earthy and malty with some tropical passionfruit, citrus rind, mineral water, doughiness that lingers with hardly any bitterness. The mouthfeel is nice, smooth, coating, lively carbonation that is soft and gentle with, medium body and a smooth finish, lightly dry.
Verdict: A nice pale ale from Hill Farmstead and a very interesting hop. It reminds me a lot of Nelson but heavier on the spice while still being tropical and fruity. I don't know if I would race to have a beer that is a single hop Riwaka again, but I'd certainly not turn one down. Definitely a great expression of the hop, but perhaps not my favorite hop.
1,241 characters
4.25/5 rDev -3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.75/5 rDev -14.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.25/5 rDev -3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.22/5 rDev -3.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Look: Very hazy, small head that disappears fast
Smell: Pear and another smell that I cannot identify, but it's very interesting
Taste: Tropical fruit and that smell in the taste that I cannot identify, some citrus. A little tea and herbal as it warms too. Starts slightly sweet and ends with a very light lingering bitterness
Feel: Very light and drinkable, extremely refreshing, soft bitterness at the end
Overall A very enjoyable beer, without a lot of complexity
468 characters
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Look: Very hazy, small head that disappears fast
Smell: Pear and another smell that I cannot identify, but it's very interesting
Taste: Tropical fruit and that smell in the taste that I cannot identify, some citrus. A little tea and herbal as it warms too. Starts slightly sweet and ends with a very light lingering bitterness
Feel: Very light and drinkable, extremely refreshing, soft bitterness at the end
Overall A very enjoyable beer, without a lot of complexity
468 characters
4.5/5 rDev +2.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4/5 rDev -8.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
750 mL growler. Hazy orange. Smell is fascinating. It has an aroma I cannot pinpoint for the life of me. Best I can describe it is peppercorns, light tropical fruits, orange, and grapefruit. Tastes much softer up front. Light citrus. A little grapefruit. Light grainy malt and doughy sweetness. Has just a bit of the peppercorn bite, but no real bitterness. Medium body. Medium carbonation. Could use just a little more bitterness, but it's a fascinating hop.
471 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
750 mL growler. Hazy orange. Smell is fascinating. It has an aroma I cannot pinpoint for the life of me. Best I can describe it is peppercorns, light tropical fruits, orange, and grapefruit. Tastes much softer up front. Light citrus. A little grapefruit. Light grainy malt and doughy sweetness. Has just a bit of the peppercorn bite, but no real bitterness. Medium body. Medium carbonation. Could use just a little more bitterness, but it's a fascinating hop.
471 characters
4.46/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Riwaka Pale Ale from Hill Farmstead Brewery
4.39
out of 5
based on 166 ratings.
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5