Juicy - Gin Barrel-Aged
Hill Farmstead Brewery

 

 

 

 

Not sure whether the gin barrel aging actually improves on the base beer in this case -- it seems to make it more sweet without adding a lot of overt juniper notes that might otherwise complement the fruity character of the dry hopping. Still quite tasty with a wonderfully fluffy mouthfeel

81/100

This one pours a slightly hazy golden orange-ish color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells of sweet and floral gin botanicals, orange, citrusy funk, and the juice left over in the bottom of a fruit cup.

The gin barreling definitely improves on Juicy, which has never exactly been one of my favorite Hill Farmstead beers. The gin smooths over some of the overly sweet and almost stale fruity flavors of Juicy. Juicy has no fruit added, but the sum of the hops used, the base beer, and everything else done to make this beer have always made it oddly sweet, and semi stale. Tom Cat gin is delicious, and using that barrel does add some really nice floral, herbal, and botanical notes to this. It’s better than regular Juicy, but not anywhere near as good as Gin Soigne is, which is one of the most underrated Hill Farmstead beers.

This is medium bodied, slightly bigger bodied than some of their other Farmstead ales, with a decent drinkability.

This was cool to try, although Juicy is definitely not my favorite Hill Farmstead beer.