Curiosity One Hundred Five
Tree House Brewing Company

 

 

Its nice to see IPA taste like IPA. Even when hazy, juicy and made in the New England style, bitterness seems to be given up on, stripping the time-honored IPA of its hallmark flavor. But as a leader among the hazy developments, Tree House shows that balance is still allowed in IPA, making Curiosity 105 curiously familiar.

Turbid in its pale taupe color, shielded by a pastel matte finish, the experimental beer is based on Galaxy and Citra hops and allows a bright citronella scent to roll off of its creamy foam. Its gentle sweetness carries a fluffy cakiness of angel food cake, agave and honeysuckle for rather malty introductions to the palate.

As the ale blossoms in its hop character, the middle palate is rife with mandarin orange, red grapefruit, pineapple, passionfruit and papaya, and while the malt flavors start to recede. A followup of rife pawpaw, gooseberry and young mango completes the fruity flavors that coat the tongue like tangy and succulent sherbet. Trending smoothly bitter late in taste, the hops transition to an herbal hemp, geranium, verbena, lemon pepper balance to close.

Medium bodied and malty-dry, the imperial status of the beer is hardly realized. Drinkable, refreshing and clean, its creamy and cereal-centric upstart yields a semi-dry finish with a medium long aftertaste of gin-like botanicals, fresh spruce and light, spicy hop resins.

L - it... it's clear? Well, -ish. But I can see shapes and stuff through it! Haven't seen a TH IPA look like this in a while. Amber gold translucence. White, fluffy head that leaves trypophobia-inducing bubbles latched onto the glass.

S - light, orangey, candied aroma. Watermelon freshness. Maybe a bit of sweet vanilla or buttercream.

T - bright, fruity, sugary flavors. Overripe in taste, but not in feel which helps dispel any "cloying" talk. Peach jam and apricot complement a heavy guava base. Tropical and lively. Finishes with a twang of maltiness and herbal bitterness.

F - on the lighter side, but with a sticky booze presence... yup, this is 8%+. Peppery tingle that resembles the tongue-numbing feeling of overeating sour candies.

O - it definitely is a different yeast strain. This one contributes to a more buttery and malty flavor profile that I would say is somewhere between Bright and Julius.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smooth, rich smell and delicious taste. No bitterness.

Pours medium gold color with a biscuit three finger dense, soapy head that retains well and leaves great soapy lacing. The aroma has dharp piquant notes rather than sweet, but quite pleasant with some less sweet citrus notes. The taste accentuates this with intense grapefruit, tangerine pith and lemon notes. This is not a sweet juice bomb, but it tastes a bit like old fashioned candied grapefruit rinds. Lemony notes linger in the finish. Feel is very soft, not much effervescence but a light to moderate amount of bitterness and no alcohol burn.

This is a very well crafted NEIPA but would not appeal to the tropical notes crowd at all. Still it works for me and is a few notches above the typical beer in this profile.

Can. Very hazy golden orange. Off white head with lace.

Even after 5 weeks in the can it still tastes green and has a nice hop bite. Big pineapple flavor. Orange and mango. A hazy that still tastes like an ipa. Excellent.

 

 

This was kind of reminiscent of a Pipeworks citra IPA, which isn’t what I expected. It was good. Second half of the can had some more TH qualities, but different. Bitter peaches

 

 

Canned 11/5/20. "Be cool" stamped on the bottom

Well, we're here. My first beer of the Curiosity series. From what I understand, it's their experimental DIPA series, and this is the latest installment

Pours a hazy golden yellow with 2 fingers o white head that quickly fades to a cap and leaves nice lacing

A very tropical aroma on this one, notes of tart pineapple, melon, orange, and banana, backed with subtly oily hops and a soft doughy malt to round it all out

The taste starts off with notes of soft tropical fruit, totally dominated by cantaloupe and banana with some mild wheat and light hops to carry it along. This trends even more tropical on the swallow, with notes of pineapple, peach, orange, pine and plenty of banana creme in the finish

A rather hefty medium body pairs with gentle carbonation for a smooth but heavy beer, feeling very much like 8.2% or even higher. Finishes crisp and sweet

This is pretty good for a one-off, but doesn't even come close to some of the other TH beers I've had. I'm pretty close to done reviewing all the beers in the mixed case I got earlier this week, looking forward to having at least one more that just blows my mind