Chinooknation
Night Shift Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

750ml corked & caged bottle (Batch #2, 9.1% ABV, bottled on 11/21/13) poured into a Dogfish Head signature glass.

A - Pours a deep amber color with some orangey highlights. Decent clarity and a fluffy 2 fingers of tan foam with good staying power. Lots of webby lacing left on the glass as the head slowly fades away.

S - Thick resiny hop aroma. Spicy hops with some cool wintergreen, cloves, pine and tropical fruit aromas of mango and pineapple.. Sweet malty base, caramelly. Smells "heavy" overall - gives the impression of a thick and dense beer.

T - Spicy hop character up front with clovey Belgian yeast character, plenty of fruity esters and a firm hop bitterness that is crisp and sharp on the tongue. Strong notes of resiny pine hops and some slightly muted citrus flavors in the background.

M - Herbal, spicy/clovey, sharply bitter. Medium body with a foamy and lightly fizzy medium/high carbonation. Hop bitterness lingers far past each swallow. Spicy and estery Belgian yeast character throughout.

O - Nice Belgian DIPA. Alcohol is well hidden, even at over 9%. Really well defined Belgian yeast flavors and some pungent hop character that is thick with sticky and resiny pine. Perhaps the single hop variety limits the dimensional possibilities, but this is well done and a very good DIPA. I wouldn't put it at the very top of my list in this category, but a very solid entry for sure. Another winner from the guys at Night Shift.

 

 

 

A vigorous pour resulted in a thick, off-white head about 1 inch high. Moderate lacing. Medium-light brown in color with some turbidy. Looks like hop bits floating around. Aroma from bottle had nice potent hoppiness. Tasted of biscuit with a nice, spicy hop bitterness up front followed a piney resin at the end. Very good.

 

Dark, cloudy amber with a big shower scum retention. Aroma and flavor worthy of an entire nation of Chinook. Piney grapefruit with some tobacco leafy spice is all over this beer. Dank, resiny mouthfeel. Perfect bitter offsets the sweet cracker-like malt.