DDH Zen Garden
Clown Shoes
- From:
- Clown Shoes
- Massachusetts, United States
- Style:
- Hazy IPA
Ranked #1,387 - ABV:
- 6.75%
- Score:
- 88
Ranked #19,876 - Avg:
- 3.95 | pDev: 3.54%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 3
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Jul 31, 2021
- Added:
- Jun 21, 2020
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
SCORE
88
Very Good
88
Very Good
Stack up enough work frustration, and even the Grim Reaper needs a peaceful retreat. Or even to quit his job and go on a craft beer journey! Grim’s Zen Garden is a much-needed escape from the grind. It’s time he overcame his existential crisis and achieved a long-sought state of Zen! We suggest that you seek your own inner peace in with this Double Dry Hopped New England India Pale Ale, flush with full-bodied, hazy flavor from a wheat and oat in the malt bill and a steady stream of hop additions.
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Reviewed by Darkmagus82 from Texas
3.79/5 rDev -4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
3.79/5 rDev -4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a hazy orange-yellow color with a one finger head of white puffy foam. The head has a great level of retention, slowly fading over time to leave tons of foamy lace rings on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is massive of tropical fruit smells and tangerine with tons of mango, papaya, tangerine, and some orange. Along with these aromas comes notes of sweet grapefruit hop as well as a decent showing of some herb and pine. A little bit of caramel and bread are there as well, mixing with the rest to produce an overall sweet and inviting smell.
Taste – The taste begins with the sweeter fruity tastes that were detected in the nose. The sweet flavors are heaviest of an orange flavor, but are backed by the tropical fruits and tangerine as well. Along with these tastes comes a moderately bready taste as well as lighter hop flavors of grapefruit and herb. As the taste advances the breadiness gets lighter all while the sweet and hop increase. For the hop, the bigger increase is in the herbal tastes with a more modest increase in the grapefruit. Those two hop tastes are also joined by some pine and a little bit of earth, adding more dankness to the tongue. With a tiny bit of hay at the very end, and the increase in the sweet and the hop, one is left with a sweet and moderately mixed hop taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel - The body of the brew is on the slightly more chewy and thick side with a lower carbonation level. The thicker body is nice for accentuating the dank hop in light of the sweeter tastes, although a little bit more carbonation may have been better for the sweeter fruit tastes. Overall, the feel was pretty good.
Overall – A rather easy drinking and flavorful NEIPA. One to give a try to at least.
Sep 30, 2020Appearance – The beer pours a hazy orange-yellow color with a one finger head of white puffy foam. The head has a great level of retention, slowly fading over time to leave tons of foamy lace rings on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is massive of tropical fruit smells and tangerine with tons of mango, papaya, tangerine, and some orange. Along with these aromas comes notes of sweet grapefruit hop as well as a decent showing of some herb and pine. A little bit of caramel and bread are there as well, mixing with the rest to produce an overall sweet and inviting smell.
Taste – The taste begins with the sweeter fruity tastes that were detected in the nose. The sweet flavors are heaviest of an orange flavor, but are backed by the tropical fruits and tangerine as well. Along with these tastes comes a moderately bready taste as well as lighter hop flavors of grapefruit and herb. As the taste advances the breadiness gets lighter all while the sweet and hop increase. For the hop, the bigger increase is in the herbal tastes with a more modest increase in the grapefruit. Those two hop tastes are also joined by some pine and a little bit of earth, adding more dankness to the tongue. With a tiny bit of hay at the very end, and the increase in the sweet and the hop, one is left with a sweet and moderately mixed hop taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel - The body of the brew is on the slightly more chewy and thick side with a lower carbonation level. The thicker body is nice for accentuating the dank hop in light of the sweeter tastes, although a little bit more carbonation may have been better for the sweeter fruit tastes. Overall, the feel was pretty good.
Overall – A rather easy drinking and flavorful NEIPA. One to give a try to at least.
Reviewed by sethmeister from New Hampshire
3.62/5 rDev -8.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.62/5 rDev -8.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
From a can marked 7/13/20
Opaque peachy gold with a creamy ecru head. Head drops fast and leaves nearly no trace.
Odd scent - tropical fruit with garlic/onion?
Taste is sweet tropical fruits. Pineapples, mangos, guava. Possibly some peach or other stone fruit. Very mild hop bitterness and what I assumed was dankness in the scent does not come across in the flavor. Finish reminds me of drinking pineapple juice.
Mouth is soft and juicy.
Drinkability is solid.
Nice beer and I'd enjoy another but it doesn't knock my socks off.
Sep 03, 2020Opaque peachy gold with a creamy ecru head. Head drops fast and leaves nearly no trace.
Odd scent - tropical fruit with garlic/onion?
Taste is sweet tropical fruits. Pineapples, mangos, guava. Possibly some peach or other stone fruit. Very mild hop bitterness and what I assumed was dankness in the scent does not come across in the flavor. Finish reminds me of drinking pineapple juice.
Mouth is soft and juicy.
Drinkability is solid.
Nice beer and I'd enjoy another but it doesn't knock my socks off.
Reviewed by smcolw from Massachusetts
4.15/5 rDev +5.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.15/5 rDev +5.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
This seems to be a higher abv and double dry hopped version of the Clown Shoes’ Zen Garden.
Served in a can during the COVID pandemic at the Harpoon outdoor beer garden with no glass or even a plastic cup. So, it's impossible to tell the appearance. Thus, the neutral score.
Pure hop pellet aroma. More floral than spicy.
Strong bittering hop flavor up front and throughout the tasting. The malt provides a richness seldom experienced in beers, even NE IPAs. Neutral to muted carbonation. Long, but not bitingly bitter, aftertaste.
Jun 21, 2020Served in a can during the COVID pandemic at the Harpoon outdoor beer garden with no glass or even a plastic cup. So, it's impossible to tell the appearance. Thus, the neutral score.
Pure hop pellet aroma. More floral than spicy.
Strong bittering hop flavor up front and throughout the tasting. The malt provides a richness seldom experienced in beers, even NE IPAs. Neutral to muted carbonation. Long, but not bitingly bitter, aftertaste.
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