Waimea Punch
Kane Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

Bringing a taste of the tropics to New Jersey, Kane Brewing puts both passionfruit and Waimea hops to work to bring a tropical punch flavor with the smooth bitterness of the New England styled IPA. Smoothie-like in its taste, we can hear the reggae music from here.

Pouring with the visual density of orange juice, the matte finish of pastel golds gives Waimea Punch a tropical punch appearance before crowning with a loose, frothy white cap. A perfume of passionfruit, orange and red grapefruit is soft on the nose rounding with an herbal citrus character of citronella. A soft and pastry-like maltiness makes a first impression with hints of dough, nectar and sweet cream.

As the fruity ale rolls across the middle palate, its taste slowly transitions from malt to fruit and eventually into a bitter late palate. Rich passionfruit flavors obviously lead the way, but with the background of citrus, lime and leaf, an herbal sherbet flavor comes to mind. A finish of green tea, mint and pine allows for a slightly longer linger of hop bitterness along with a subtle spice of gin.

Tangy with the exotic nature of tropical fruit, the beer shows much more than a smooth hop bite in the end and the fruit acidity offers a high rate of refreshment, drinkability and irresistibility. So smooth, in fact, that the beer somehow seems too effortless and leaves the palate wanting more sour punch impact or more of a hop grip.

**
04/13/19

8oz pour at Kane.

Look: pulpy grapefruit juice. Small off white head. Thickness makes retention difficult.

AROMA: tropical fruit, passion fruit, pineapple, mango,

TASTE: more sweet tropical fruit, balanced by a grassy hop bitter finish that offsets the sweetness perfectly.

Feel: pulpy, very full bodied for a pale ale. Gives it some masculinity.

Very good. My kind of IPA/APA.


**
07/26/2020

Waimea tasting of 3 Kane beers: Waimea, Waimea Punch, Waimea Pro.

Punch is the superstar. Waimea hop brings a nice tropical fruit front finished with a palm, grass, hay finish. The lactose and passion fruit match perfectly. maybe slightly thinning it out, but super-sizing the flavor and drinkability.

Just an awesome beer.

Adjusted ratings slightly, both up and down, but ending in 4.60--->4.61.

**

 

Thank you thebeers for this
16 oz can, dated 3/4/19, poured into a teku

A- A hazy golden straw with a small white head.

S- Dank, tropical fruits, citrus, hints of lactose.

T- Dank, citrus, limes, passionfruit/tropical fruits, hints of lactose.

M- Smooth, medium body, a little chewy.

O- A really nice NEIPA that works well with the passionfruit.

 

Fully opaque dull orange mango juice with a thin, slow to build white film that dies quickly.

Spicy and pungent tropical fruit on the nose contains more passion than taste, which is hoppy, greenly sharp and acidic with seedy toasted cracker. It tastes more mango-like and sharp with a thin fizz through the solid medium body that finishes stinging dry.

Fruited, non-sour NE IPAs are hard...just stick to hops!

 

Pours a very cloudy orange juice color, minimal head. Aroma is tropical fruit mixed with citrus. Flavor is citrus, tropical fruit, orange lemon, passion fruit. Lactose is minimal and tastes good. Toich of tangy / sourness. Overall a fun beer.

3/15/19
16 oz can dated 3/4/19
4.25 rating

 

Pours a cloudy, murky mango-peach juice color with a thin, quick-to-dissipate off-white head.

Tropical, floral aroma with mint, herbal weed and a little toast behind.

Very weedy tasting up front, coupled with tropical fruits and some toast. The cream is there, but on the light side. It has a very weird, slow-building, almost pasty bitterness to it in the finish, as well as a mineral water element.

Full bodied and a tad chewy in the feel with enough soda water fizziness to keep it lively.

This definitely delivers on the passionfruit. The marijuana characteristics are really strong as well.

Traded for this a while ago, as I've never been to Kane. I love their heavier beers that they're more well-known for but this was nice in it's own right, as it reminded me a bit of Hawaiian Punch. Not a bad beer but it was incredibly smooth and easy to quaff, even after all of this time!

The pour to this wasn't too bad as the hazy, apricot hue was topped off by plenty of head that took it's time to settle down. Very little lacing was left on the side of my pint glass as I sipped this, with the liquid being a bit thinner than I would have liked. Lots of passion fruit, lychee, tropical fruit, and soft hops in the nose but I couldn't detect any of the crystal or lactose. The oats came through in the taste as this was quite full on the palate and there wasn't much sediment left on the bottom of my glass as I worked my way through this. More punch than hops, this felt like juice with some floral notes in the aftertaste more than anything else...

Thankfully, the alcohol was low and nearly undetectable in this - even after I finished it off. This was slick enough and only had a minimal amount of bitterness as well, which was completely fine by me! On a warmer day, this would have been great to reach for but now that it's winter, I'm glad I only had one can here. No date on the bottom of the can and even though it's not a common hop, this would be worth a go once for fans of Waimea!

 

Was really looking forward to this but sadly disappointed. 16 oz can poured into a Teku glass. Murky apple cider in color with a little bit of carbonation bubbles on the side of the glass, less than a finger of quickly fading head that leaves zero (0) lacing. Really liked the aroma of this one as it was sweet with citrus and tropical fruit smells. This one really lost me on the taste though....it's pretty sour with not a lot of flavor evolution and a dry finish. While I appreciate you getting me a 4 pack of this, Jay I have to say I am a little relieved that I passed three of them on to others. A bit too sour for my liking.