Whole Leaf Magic
Kane Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a hazy, muddy dark-orange color with a finger of off-white head. Decent sheets of lacing.

Has a very earthy, fresh hop aroma. There are hints of honey, pepper, dough, citrus and pine sap. It’s like old-school homebrewing.

The taste largely follows the nose: earthiness, honey, light orange, light pine, oats and a very strong peppery herbal bite in the finish.

Full bodied with prickly carbonation.

Distinctive, earthy flavors, but a bit too peppery to my taste. A decent enough change of pace, but not something I’d come back to often. Some bitterness might improve it.

2019 version with whole leaf Amarillo, Centennial & Cascade hops.

Pouring from a 16 oz. can into a Willi Becher style glass, this beer pours out as a cross between being New England style hazy and clear. I can see my fingers shadows on the other side of the glass, it’s not clear, but definitely not New England style hazy. It forms a little more than a finger width of frothy white crown that has good retention.

The smell brings a dank hop presence; dank, weedy, resin and pine. Also some grapefruit with slight honey like sweetness at the back. I’m really liking that dankness.

The taste brings that dank presence back in; slightly burnt resin, green, pine notes. It then turns to quick hints of citrus; pink grapefruit. It has a dry, bready background to it; sticky dough, some dried out biscuit and dry oats. It’s really clean, with a full body and almost creamy mouthfeel.

Overall, this is my kind of ipa. It’s really clean.

 

Golden color, rich mouthfeel, extremely mild for an Imperial India Pale. While this IPA lacked complexity, its smoothness and lightness was really unexpected considering the 7.9% abv gusto.

 

Kane. Clear yellow Whitehead. Marijuana aroma. Copy leafy hay grass tastes. Medium body

Floating just shy of true imperial status, the use of both Citra and Mosaic hops are a shoo-in for flavor and feel. And in the competent hands of Kane brewers, excellence is expected.

Grassy, herbal and fruity the ale kicks off with a radiant perfume of citrus, tropical and melon influences. Hazy golden and topped with a blanket of creamy froth, the billowing fragrance soon leads to a gentle sweetness of honey, pastry and an overall doughy delight.

But the malts are only there to support the whole hops that layer the middle palate with a breadth of fruit and vegetation. Tangerine flavors rise ahead of a secondary wave of pink grapefruit, lemon, pineapple, gooseberry, passionfruit and blueberry. Peppery and grassy, the taste quickly turns to a more herbal dryness of sassafras, fresh grass clippings, chive, green tea and evergreens.

Medium bodied, the beer stays remarkably creamy, even on the late palate. But resisting any additional weight or sweetness, the leaf, stem and overall vegetal flavors of whole hops add a spicy and woodsy bitterness that extends longer in aftertaste than is typical for "hazy" IPA, but is tame compared to west coast varieties.

 

I had this on draught at a restaurant, paired with a burger. It pours a slightly hazy, bright golden color, with a small bright white head and minimal lacing. The nose was rather subdued - dank and mostly lemon, grapefruit, pine needles, and floral hops. The taste is also quite dank with tart citrus offset by sweet oats and strong, fairly bitter Mosaic and Citra hops. It's spartan but still quite flavorful. This ale is surprisingly viscous, oily, and chewy. It's lightly carbonated and potent with an ABV of 7.9% Overall, it's flavorful and rather unique. This may be a one-off from Kane but I'm glad to have tried it.

Pours slightly dark yellow, minimal haze, minimal head. Nice earthy dank hop aroma. Great flavor - mango, citrus, some papaya, dankness, sweet, malty like a west coast IIPA, you can tell this wasn't only dry hopped. Love it. Creamy full mouthfeel. Definitely taste the fresh hops vs pellets - adds a new layer of flavor that is very noticeable but hard to describe.

4/20/18
Draft at brewery
4.5 rating