Splitter
Idle Hands Craft Ales

 

 

 

Cloudy orange-amber color. Small head with rim bubbles over time. Some small specks for lace.

Attractive with a sweeter malt nose and a slightly spicy hop. A touch weedy.

Spritzy with a decent body. The start is semisweet but becomes weedy from the hop quickly. Longer aftertaste.

 

Interesting stuff. Pours a murky dark golden with big white cap that fades to a skim and leaves some lacing. Aromas are foremost Belgian esters along with some melon and dark fruits. Flavors differ from nose with more emphasis on ripe fruit but still some banana and melon. Mouthfeel is large and sticky, a bit cloying on the finish. Definitely a one-and-done, but unique and pretty tasty.

 

 

 

Exceptional well balanced beer which will take you down if you are not careful. Nose is melon and a little lemon. Taste is pineapple, guava and passion fruit notes with a little bitter finish and feel. A thoroughbred for its class.

 

 

Very happy to be the first review for this bruiser of a New England Double IPA! I am a gigantic fan of Six Seam and believe it to be the ur-example of the local/Boston area strong hazy IPA with its focus on Mosaic hops and rye malt. This one changes things up a bit (hence the "Splitter" name, as it's splitting off the main path of the Seam series thus far; clever one, guys) with a red wheat and oat focused grain bill and the use of some unusual hops (plus Simcoe for good measure). The press release and can text describe this one as less citrusy and more tropical when compared with 6S, but I've always considered Simcoe to be a citrusy (and piney/earthy) hop... perhaps the other off-kilter/new-school hops will bring it into the softer/tropical realm? Only one way to find out!

Pour here is kind of typical hazy IPA... okay, it's pretty much dense and opaque with a deep orange color. Looks a lot like a smoothie, even compared to some actual "smoothie IPAs" I've had. The head is not very impressive but the lace and legs are quite consistent. I recall being very impressed by the pour of 6S, but I'd say this is slightly less-good looking.

Right off the bat I'm noting a lot of melon and fresh papaya juiciness immediately in the nose, with some light ripe red berry character and some dank pine hitting here and there as well. Some orange and tangerine, but I would say that IH was right saying this is less citrusy than 6S. It seems much softer and less aggressive, with a balanced profile of tropical fruit and light stone fruit notes crossed with some nice, subtle yeasty esters. Some tannic/black tea notes here also somewhat remind me of Idaho 7 hops, another weird newer varietal... perhaps something to do with Simcoe playing strangely with Apollo or something, just based on reading about the differences in these hops. Unique and nice-smelling, but not really completely up my alley for whatever reason.

Flavor is nice and punchy with superb bitter structure up front washing over the tongue with strong pineapple, mango and papaya followed by some light zesty citrus (more lemon/lime than orange/tangerine, if I'm being honest) and a great herbal/juicy finish that brings out melon, grassy notes and light berry undertones with a refreshing mango aspect. The feel is pillowy and soft, densely layered with mellow hop flavor and aggressive hop bitterness that still never seems to harangue the palate. That said, something about this just feels a bit plain to me at the end of the day. It seems safer than 6S for whatever reason.