Swinging the Lamp
Cape May Brewing Company

 

 

Can dated 11/17/20 into pint glass. Pours a hazy yellow-amber with a substantial off-white head. No lacing to speak of. Initial impression is pineapple, grapefruit, mango, grass, pine, and a touch of caramel. Mouthfeel is clean and dry - somewhere between West Coast and NEIPA. Finish is pine resin with a slight bitterness. Overall, a really interesting IPA with a bunch of unusual (for me, at least) hops.

The emptying of a pint can into a clear Imperial pint mug provides a look-see at a murky yellow-amber brew with a nice inch or two of white head. It smells softly of fruit starches and hops. The glass lace left is unremarkable. The taste is light and slightly on the sour side until the last bit of hoppy bitterness finishes. Definitely missing barley malt, the overall taste is too simple to make it a good NEIPA. Wheat and oats make great softening agents, but they can't carry a good IPA on their own. There's no doubt a healthy dose of English barley malt contributes mightily to the deserving "World Class" rating of Heady Topper. Somethings just shouldn't be messed with.

Pint can in a nonic pint glass. Born on November 17, 2020, five weeks fresh.

Pours a juice like pale and cloudy yellow gold color with a foamy 1F white cap. A quick fade leaves decent lacing.

Juicy pineapple and stone fruits just like what’s written on the can. Clean, woody; no alcohol or other unpleasant aromas.

More pineapple and stone fruit. Yeast and oats combine for a nice wooden grain. Mild tropical punch.

Medium bodied and not too juicy. Very clean and finishes dry with hop flavors. No alcohol burn.

Wheat, yeast, and oats absorb some juice to keep it in the beer catalog, thankfully. Well managed; at 8% abv NE style, a tall task. The beer’s name and packaging are pretty cool, too.

After 25 beers from this fave Jersey Shore brewer (along with Cartons & Kane), this anniversary NEIPA disappoints.
a) Too dull and murky body, scant head, no lace. Dull.
s) Also musty and dull in nature, wheat flakes, oatmeal, and some dank hops.
t) Dull flavor with a tingly but odd and dank, frat-floor rancor and then a hop bite.
f) too thin.
o) Back to the tank. Yes unique but in a dirty kind of way

 

Cape May Brewing Co. "Swinging The Lamp"
"one pint" can coded "BORN 1893 11271909:23" and sampled on 012320
$5.99 @ Roger Wilco, Pennsauken, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: A hazy golden body greets you once poured. The head is a full sized cap of densely foamy off-white. The aroma is, unfortunately, somewhat limited. How old is this can? Less than 57 days old, and it was stored cool at the distributor. Hmmm, that's kind of disappointing. What I'm finding is herbal, piney, bready, dried apricot-like, and just lightly fruity in the tropical vein. It's clean, there's that, and it's... OK... but it's not great. On to the flavor... there's more fruitiness to it but the dank and herbal notes remain and they don't really fit together too well. I guess there's some pine in there as well. It leaves almost a minty taste behind in the finish. I've got to give them credit for originality though as I've never tasted a beer quite like this. I'm getting the dankness upfront, shadowed by the herbs, and then some apricot, mild orange, and light pineapple. Some other notes in the mix include passion fruit, plum, lime, and pear. Ummm... it's OK. I think this may be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, or more specifically, too many hops in play. What's in here? The label says Moutere, Rakau, and Moteuka. I'm guessing these are all New Zealand hops but I've only ever tasted Moteuka, and only ever heard of Rakau; Moutere is a complete mystery to me. Number one I'll say that I think the malt is a little too grassy or 'farm-like' as that interferes with the hops, and two, there's not enough hops overall, followed by three, they're all a bit muddled. It is unique though. In the mouth it's medium to medium-full, and gently crisp - no problems there. Overall this reminds me of Chris Martin of Coldplay relating the story of how he'd asked David Bowie to do a duet with him, sent him the song, and Bowie replied saying, "It's not your best work, is it?". I hate to not like a beer from Cape May as they've put out so many great beers, but this one just doesn't come together with any of the magic that they can usually conjure. There's nothing actually wrong with it, it's flawlessly brewed. Nor do I feel I'm being personal here. This isn't about my tastes regarding these specific hops and malts, but rather how the final product comes together as a whole.
Review #6,919

 

 

Big off-white head that dissipates quickly down to the surface, the lacing has close to zero stickiness. Only a very light haziness, on the whole transparent, broadly arrayed fat and lazy bubbles visible. Bitterly herbaceous nose, tar and pine sap, pretzel and cracker, focused and laser-like to the point where not too much guava, pineapple fruit nor grapefruit registers. Lighter than expected in the mouth, lacks that expansive volume you sort of expect with this style. Grainy and grassy, bright presence and here the white grapefruit, tangerine gives it all its got. More pineapple than any other fruit, nectarine, papaya, passion fruit, proportionate and not looking to hog the spotlight. Carbonation not that consistent, kind of lurches around, sometimes prickly, sometimes creamier. Finishes things off with notes of caramel, pine and almost nougat. Medium grade bitterness probably elevated by general lack of sweetness. Little too much going on.