A Totally Different Spiritual Galaxy
Tired Hands Brewing Company

 

 

first of all, thanks to drlovemd87 for sharing a fresh growler of this one, knowing i am a lush for all things maple. good drinking beer again with you dude! could not believe the color of this, milky yellow white with an awesome snow white head on it. so thick looking, some sediment, but its pretty well integrated. paler than i expected, and so dense. the nose doesnt show me nearly as much maple as i hoped for (i always want more), but the nelson hops are really forward, in all of their aromatic glory. i have to imagine this is wheat based, the aroma and the color suggest so, but so does that texture of it on the tongue. it seems like a lot of the maple is fermented out of this, its not really vibrant at all, although i do taste it a little more when it warms up. i could happily have this ramped up several times, but its subtlety is also clever. not sure i would have used such an intense and distinct hop varietal with maple syrup, it doesnt seem compatible in my head, so maybe the relaxed nature of the maple is the real success here, because this is very much still an ipa, and it really works. that thin sweetness and earthy maple component highlights some of the more delicate aspects of the hops, and the creamy thick but soft wheat malt base is a nice platform for these attributes. definitely a unique beer, extremely high quality, but way different than expected. that mouthfeel is just so strange, being effervescent in carbonation but thick as they come too. this has me intrigued to drink more hoppy beers from these guys. rock star stuff right here.

 

 

I think this is a great beer - just lacking the maple. Really hard (for me) to pin point it at all. Maybe, at most, in the aroma.