Area 52 KangaRooster IPA
Phillips Brewing & Malting Co.

 

 

Appearance - Pours an amber with two fingers of frothy white head.

Smell - earthy and piney hops, hint of pine resin, grapefruit peel, slight berry notes, bready caramel malts.

Taste - Bitter earthy and piney hops upfront followed by the pine resin, grapefruit peel, bready caramel malts, and light berry notes.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes with a pleasant bitterness from the hops.

Overall - A well crafted hop forward IPA. This one is definitely for those looking their bitter hop beers. Have at her hopheads!

Bottle from a mixed IPA pack poured into a shaker pint glass. These Area 52 "experimental" brews appeal to my hop loving and nerd sides in equal measure and as memory serves this is the third such offering. A slightly cloudy golden yellow amber with two fingers or so of sudsy, choppy off-white foam. Aroma is skewed towards the dry, floral, and bitter components of the hop cone, with the expected citrus present but muted, at least initially. My initial taste impression is that of a sharp, earthy, aggressive leafy bitterness accompanied by ample dry woody Phillips house yeast character. Along the entire spectrum of Phillips IPAs, this might be the most green and dry of the entire lot, an effect particularly salient when one enjoys a Hop Circle or Krypton from the same mixed pack right after the present offering, brews that are NOTABLY more sweet and perhaps well-rounded (even Jackalope is considerably sweeter). I next get a substantial bloom of lime rind, followed by potent floral oils and almost a chilli-like resinous burn, bitter tree sap, lemon, grapefruit, underripe raspberries and peppercorn (like some of the dryer craft American pale ales brewed in this country). The bitterness does mellow over time, at least to some extent, although one is left with the impression of autumn leaves and dank root cellar as opposed to anything super bright and fruity. Low to medium carbonation and I'd describe the body in the same fashion. Finishes dry and subtly piney, a little menthol throat lozenge and dessicated rinds. A tad disjointed but interesting. I know secrecy is part of the schtick but it would be nice if Phillips spilled the beans and disclosed the hop varietals used in these beers. Nice information to have from a taste learning perspective.

 

341ml bottle, the latest Frankenstein lab result offering from the Area 52 Hop Development series. IPA #7736, or as it is (not) known by its codename 'Kangarooster', does not divulge its genetic makeup.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden yellow hue, with three fingers of puffy, densely foamy, and chalky off-white head, which leaves some attractively layered gear chain lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

It smells of mildly dank pine needles and resin, bready, crackery caramel malt, wet breakfast biscuits - lightly slathered with some sort of berry jam - a flinty minerality, and further floral, leafy, and earthy bittering hops. The taste is crackery, bready pale and caramel malts up front, with some manner of pithy chalkiness, later-arriving mixed pine and leafy forest floor green astringencies, and a hollow, stripped-down dark fleshy fruitiness.

The carbonation is fairly low-key in its softly-rendered frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, a slight edginess from hop and booze alike growing as it warms. It finishes pretty much dry, the lingering graininess of the malt no match for the pine forest simulacrum hops.

Another pleasantly hoppy IPA from this area of Phillips' brewing concern of which we must not speak. I like that the malt can at least hold its own here, as well as engender that strange, but at the same time comforting chalky character (something very reminiscent of Maine Brewing's offerings). You probably won't see this one in very many places - but do know that it does exist, and it is good.