Anniversary Ale 8
Cape May Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Finger plus of a bright white, actively sizzling head, retention is ehh, minimal lacing. Full-on cloudiness, what has become the norm of looking like apricot puree, huge visible carbonation though. Big, juicy nose of pine sap, caramel, orange pekoe tea and pineapple, guava, nectarine fruit scents, the dankness kept to a minimum. While it’s a bit heavy on the palate that carbonation comes through and provides ample churn to create a sense of movement. Malty with caramel, cookie dough to scone flavors. More damp leafiness here and the pine notes tarrier. The blood orange, grapefruit citrus gets too balled up, could benefit from less concentration. The same generally obtains for the star fruit, papaya, pineapple flavors but this element brings nice tartness. In the end it’s not a bad beer, not a great beer, best taken as a whole because not much gained by parsing it out. (Canned 6/12/19)

 

Yellow/ hazy pineapple-juice colored pour with a thick white foamy head.
Nose is mango/ pineapple/ tropical fruit.
Flavor is stone/ tropical fruit, yellow grapefruit juice and lemon with a slight, underlying resinous earthiness.
Feels medium-creamy.
It’s very good. It could be more if the adequately-flavored earthy malt backbone didn’t “dry-up” the juiciness of the fruit. Still glad I kept a can to take home to Texas, where numerous variants of dry or double dry-hopped brews similar to this can be found via Tupps, among others.

Cape May Brewing Co. "Anniversary Ale 8"
one pint can, "BORN 1649 06/12/19 12:38" and sampled on 07/27/19
$5.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Look: Murky golden-orange body beneath a finger thick head of creamy white foam. Better than average head retention and lacing.

Smell: Tropical with notes of pineapple, orange, guava, and passionfruit atop a sweetish malt base.

Taste: Hoppy and resinous with all of the tropical fruit notes found in the aroma as well as a touch of peach. Very much like fruit punch with some sweetish golden malt, pine, and a firm bitterness thrown in. The alcohol has a presence to it but it never really shows. The finish is dry and bitter but also quite fruity which tricks the brain into perceiving it as less dry and bitter than it really is.

Feel: Medium to medium-full in body with a bit of a dextrinous feel, and gently crisp.

Overall: Fairly impressive! The hops are quite present but not overwhelming. Neither is the malt sweetness nor the body nor the alcohol. It's extremely well balanced for what it is. Additionally, 8 pounds of hops per barrel is quite insane, which most likely explains the higher price tag but it's worth it. Quite enjoyable.

Review #6,631

 

 

Pleased to write 1st review.
a) Heavy does of hops arrives in a cloudy mist of yellow body that throws lasting head and lace.
s) Tropical fruit dominates along with citrus.
t) More fruit salad that hops. But rich, abundant fruit flavors made this best of today's flight of 4.
f) creamy, chalky, but too much like citrus juice.
o) Great anniversary beer, must try 12.