Sky Hag
Airways Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big IPA. Great head, light, with great lacing; great red-tinted orangey golden-brown color, with very nice busy effervescence, with big bubbles on the top layer. Absolutely wonderful dry-fruit nose, exploding layers of wildflower honey, candied grapefruit peel, sugary thyme and seaside wild sage, and salty taffy. Good bitters notes on the body, but softly sweet, with some more grapefruit pith, candied lemon, peel, and sweet grassiness; excellent buoyancy as well.

Not so bitter as the bitterest sky hag—but I love the label, and the the name.

Standard semi-opaque amber with a real notable gradient from the centre column to the edges. Lousy with bubbles leading to a persistant pillowy off white crown.

Nose starts off with an inviting sticky/juicy resins and malts before giving way to more floral hops.

Resin again and some sticky spice. Guava-y mango-ish perhaps, but not the fruity juicy tropical fruit flavour I usually associate them with. Much more... resinous. Pine but not quite and some faint pithiness. Finish finally commits to a honey/mango/bitter trifecta that works really well. While this isn't a blow-you-away IPA, I think if a more notable brewery had made it it would have considerably higher ratings. Or not. Who knows.

Appearance – Brilliant gold in color and absolutely haze free. When poured created about a finger and a half of fluffy white head. Left lots of lacing on the sides of the glass.
Smell – A powerful smell of grapefruit that was a little resinous. Some floral notes were also present. Maltiness was very subdued.

Taste – A very bright beer with tons of orange and grapefruit flavor. A small amount of maltiness really let the hops shine through. The aftertaste consisted of pine and grapefruit rind flavors. Intensely bitter throughout.

Mouthfeel – Medium-light in body with a fair amount of carbonation. The alcohol was present and was slightly hot.