What Is Enlightenment? | Hill Farmstead Brewery
Brewed by:
Hill Farmstead Brewery
Vermont, United States
hillfarmstead.com
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 5.40%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
American Pale Ale brewed in honor of our Second Anniversary. Simcoe and Amarillo hops.
Added by CliffBrake on 04-26-2012
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 917 | Reviews: 116
4.58/5 rDev +4.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.34/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.33/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.35/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
On tap at the Blackback Pub. The appearance was a hazy burnt yellow/orange color with an ever so slight transparency about it. Some carbonation could be seen to fill a one finger white foamy head. Speckled lacing ran here and there around the glass. The smell started started off with some full bittersweet citrus, sweet grass, "iced" pulp and rind, malts underneath. The taste was basically the same with a subtle sweet citrus malt aftertaste and finish. The finish is semi-dry but nice. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a pretty good sessionability about it. Carbonation rides good - fairly low, enough bitterness still nothing overbearing. Overall, very nice American pale ale that I would love to have again.
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look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
On tap at the Blackback Pub. The appearance was a hazy burnt yellow/orange color with an ever so slight transparency about it. Some carbonation could be seen to fill a one finger white foamy head. Speckled lacing ran here and there around the glass. The smell started started off with some full bittersweet citrus, sweet grass, "iced" pulp and rind, malts underneath. The taste was basically the same with a subtle sweet citrus malt aftertaste and finish. The finish is semi-dry but nice. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a pretty good sessionability about it. Carbonation rides good - fairly low, enough bitterness still nothing overbearing. Overall, very nice American pale ale that I would love to have again.
748 characters
4.28/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.37/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.22/5 rDev -3.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.75/5 rDev +8.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.89/5 rDev +11.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
4.27/5 rDev -2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.37/5 rDev -22.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
4.31/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.34/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.25/5 rDev -2.7%
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
4.5/5 rDev +3%
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
4.42/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.34/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.39/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.28/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Very delicious if understated example of a New England IPA. Nice light honey color with decent head. Minimal retention but nice creamy sticky lacing. Aroma is subtle tropical fruit and the flavor follows not a huge juice bomb but very drinkable with a soft fluffy mouthfeel. Not exceptional in any way but worth a pour whenever it is available
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look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Very delicious if understated example of a New England IPA. Nice light honey color with decent head. Minimal retention but nice creamy sticky lacing. Aroma is subtle tropical fruit and the flavor follows not a huge juice bomb but very drinkable with a soft fluffy mouthfeel. Not exceptional in any way but worth a pour whenever it is available
343 characters
3.49/5 rDev -20.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
On-draught @ Mug's Alehouse in Brooklyn, NY for $8 a pint (16 FL oz).
Currently on the top 250 list.
HEAD: Frothy and soft as can be, enticing the drinker with an impossibly long-lived head (~10+ minutes) that coats the glass' sides with thick lacing as it slowly recedes. ~3cm in height after the bartender pours off excess. In short, a near perfectly executed head for the pale ale style.
BODY: Seemingly unfiltered judging by its haziness. Body colour is a yellow-copper of average vibrance. Lively but not clean. Not as eye-catching as the head.
Appears well-carbonated. Appealing.
AROMA: Fruit-forward but subtly so. Lemon, delicate grapefruit, tropical fruit (mango, papaya, guava, lime). No onion from the Simcoe. No resins from the Amarillo (my favourite hop). Floral and fresh, with a hint of citrusy rind.
Any bitterness is softened by it's apt pale malt sweetness.
Aromatic intensity is average. I detect no off-notes. Suggests a balanced enjoyable pale ale, but not a world class vividly hopped beer. Definitely promising, but not on par with what I'd expect from one of the best 250 beers in the world.
TASTE & TEXTURE: Lemony, with a coating soft mouthfeel. Tropical notes of mango, melon rind, yogurty tang (a flavour Hill Farmstead seems almost uniquely able to coax out of the usually oniony Simcoe), floral and grassy hops, cream, some lime. Drifts increasingly rindy and bitter throughout its structure, culminating in a subtle grapefruit climax.
Depth of flavour is nice but not stellar; I've had far more expressive and vividly flavoured pale ales (Alpine's pre-Green Flash Alpine Ale comes to mind). Flavour duration and intensity are quite good for a pale ale.
The soft coating mouthfeel delivers on the promises of the frothy head; it feels like it looks. A little dry and a little coarse, but a creamy cushion on the palate takes that almost dragging edge off.
There's no doubt this is well built for a pale ale, and the yogurty tang Hill Farmstead gets out of Simcoe is enough to make this worth trying...but unique flavour aside, it's not a world class pale ale for me. A cleaner more refreshing mouthfeel and more vivid pungent hop flavours would help elevate this to the next level. Amarillo isn't anywhere near as well showcased as Simcoe, well chosen though both hops were for this fine ale.
Not as intricate as the Zombie Dusts of the world, but pleasingly delicate. Most (American) brewers are going big and bold with their hop profiles, but Hill Farmstead exhibits remarkable restraint.
OVERALL: Not a top 250 beer for me, and I do think the yogurty Simcoe flavour is better explored in other Hill Farmstead ales. If you associate Simcoe with an oniony/garlicky taste, this will blow your mind and show you Simcoe's heretofore untapped potential, but drinkable as this pale ale is, it isn't truly incredible. Well worth trying.
High B- (3.49) / WORTHY
2,901 characters
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
On-draught @ Mug's Alehouse in Brooklyn, NY for $8 a pint (16 FL oz).
Currently on the top 250 list.
HEAD: Frothy and soft as can be, enticing the drinker with an impossibly long-lived head (~10+ minutes) that coats the glass' sides with thick lacing as it slowly recedes. ~3cm in height after the bartender pours off excess. In short, a near perfectly executed head for the pale ale style.
BODY: Seemingly unfiltered judging by its haziness. Body colour is a yellow-copper of average vibrance. Lively but not clean. Not as eye-catching as the head.
Appears well-carbonated. Appealing.
AROMA: Fruit-forward but subtly so. Lemon, delicate grapefruit, tropical fruit (mango, papaya, guava, lime). No onion from the Simcoe. No resins from the Amarillo (my favourite hop). Floral and fresh, with a hint of citrusy rind.
Any bitterness is softened by it's apt pale malt sweetness.
Aromatic intensity is average. I detect no off-notes. Suggests a balanced enjoyable pale ale, but not a world class vividly hopped beer. Definitely promising, but not on par with what I'd expect from one of the best 250 beers in the world.
TASTE & TEXTURE: Lemony, with a coating soft mouthfeel. Tropical notes of mango, melon rind, yogurty tang (a flavour Hill Farmstead seems almost uniquely able to coax out of the usually oniony Simcoe), floral and grassy hops, cream, some lime. Drifts increasingly rindy and bitter throughout its structure, culminating in a subtle grapefruit climax.
Depth of flavour is nice but not stellar; I've had far more expressive and vividly flavoured pale ales (Alpine's pre-Green Flash Alpine Ale comes to mind). Flavour duration and intensity are quite good for a pale ale.
The soft coating mouthfeel delivers on the promises of the frothy head; it feels like it looks. A little dry and a little coarse, but a creamy cushion on the palate takes that almost dragging edge off.
There's no doubt this is well built for a pale ale, and the yogurty tang Hill Farmstead gets out of Simcoe is enough to make this worth trying...but unique flavour aside, it's not a world class pale ale for me. A cleaner more refreshing mouthfeel and more vivid pungent hop flavours would help elevate this to the next level. Amarillo isn't anywhere near as well showcased as Simcoe, well chosen though both hops were for this fine ale.
Not as intricate as the Zombie Dusts of the world, but pleasingly delicate. Most (American) brewers are going big and bold with their hop profiles, but Hill Farmstead exhibits remarkable restraint.
OVERALL: Not a top 250 beer for me, and I do think the yogurty Simcoe flavour is better explored in other Hill Farmstead ales. If you associate Simcoe with an oniony/garlicky taste, this will blow your mind and show you Simcoe's heretofore untapped potential, but drinkable as this pale ale is, it isn't truly incredible. Well worth trying.
High B- (3.49) / WORTHY
2,901 characters
What Is Enlightenment? from Hill Farmstead Brewery
Beer rating:
4.37 out of
5 with
917 ratings
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