Strange Brew
Jack's Abby Brewing

 

 

Enjoyed this the other day at Taste of Marlborough.

A - Poured a nice clear light amber hue with a fluffy two finger head. Pretty nice.

S - Aromas explode with a great hoponeous backing followed by those lovely citra and simcoe hops. Just a tropical fruit overload.

T - Taste is spot on. Hoppy, citra, tropical fruits, nice bitterness, simcoe is super faint, citra is in your face good. Very strong pine lingering finish.

M - Mouthfeel is solid, definitely still has that lager feel to it. Crisp, though now slightly oily for the finish.

O - Overall, a damn fine beer. The randall adds a nice characteristic to the beer and amps up an already hoppy lager. Super glad I got to try this one.

I finally found it again!

I had a chance to have this beer on 12/12/12 at Sergio's in Marlborough, and then stopped by for the Big Brew 2013 at the Strange Brew HBS and it was on tap there too! This beer is really neat because it brings in the Blichmann Hop-Rocket (generally referred to as a "Randall") to make an already Hoppy Lager even hoppier!

So Far, i've had it Rocketed with Simcoe, Amarillo, Citra, and then last night (most recently at the Taste of Marlborough) with 50% Citra and 50% Simcoe.

This review will be based on last night.

Appearance - I must agree with a prior poster - The plastic tasting cup really makes this a challenge haha The beer was golden in color, with a slight haze to it. I'd like to say that the haze most likely originates in the Rocketing process and not in the base beer. The head retention wasn't bad, but it also wasn't fantastic - again, i wonder if this is due to Rocket interference.

Smell - The very first thing that hits you is a massive blast of citrus and pine. After that, there is a small bitterness smell that trails.

Taste - The taste is out of this world. I actually had pretty serious reservations about drinking a Citra/Simcoe Rocketed beer. My first thought was that this would be the "Pinesol" of beers - but it actually compliments it very well. The tropical citrus is the first note that hits, with that bitterness following suit. The bitterness is a fairly light note that quickly transforms into a pine essence. The piney taste is definitely a lingering taste that could damage your pallet for the night if it wasn't for the bowl of pretzels close at hand.

Mouthfeel - Aside from a few Rocket based floaters, This is really the only place that i can dock this beer points. As it is suppose to be a lager style beer - it is a bit lacking in the "Crispness" category. I would tend to believe that this is due to the added hop oils from the Rocketing. It's not "bad" persay, but if you're expecting something very crisp - this probably won't be the beer for you. Now if you're looking for something that breaks down barriers - Cheers my friends! You've found it!

Overall - Overall i think i could drink this nightly and never get tired of it. I realize how bold of a statement that may seem, but when you have a Hoprocket that can be filled with 4oz of any leaf hop you want - the possibilities are absolutely endless.

Serving type: Jockey Box Draft Set-Up with an Inline Hop Rocket.

Apparently this is a special beer for Strange Brew the homebrew shop, which they served at the Taste of Marlborough, and is Hoponious dry hopped with Citra, and then it was pushed through a randall with extra dry hopped Citra and Simcoe on top of that.

Nice creamy head, semi clear golden honey colored, but hard to get a good view through the plastic cups.

Nose tons of fresh hops great citrus and tropical fruit, faint hint of a creamy but slightly juicy toasty malt, lager character is all but gone by the huge hops, bringing mango, melon, tangerine, light grapefruit pith, hint of rind even, very big without a ton of bitterness.

Taste brings more of the same, lots of citrus hops, tangerine and orange rind mostly, then slight tropical fruit, musty passion fruit, sight mango, guava, a bit of hop resins and even some hop oils, light grapefruit pith again, faint rind and slight lemon, etc. Malts are barely detecable, as well as any lingering lager characteristics. Finish is lingering with more juicy citrus and bit of tropical fruit and finally a bit of light fluffy malts, with crisp feel.

Mouth is med bodied, somewhat crisp, slight hop oil feel.

Overall it's very good, but kinda one tracked. The crazy tropical fruits are delicious, but about as much as you can expect from just cramming tons and tons of citrus and tropical fruit hops in it, the beer has just about left the stadium and leaves me kinda wanting it back again.