January Haze
Tree House Brewing Company

 

16oz can poured into a snifter.

A: Dull golden color with enough Haze to make it opaque. Two fingers of bone white head retain decently, but do slowly subside and finally collapse into the thin cap. Collars of lacing stick to the glass as the liquid recedes.

S: Under ripe mango, peach, orange, white grapefruit, and a hint of pineapple. Green grass clippings. Crackery malt with just a hint of dough.

T: Watery peach and under ripe mango up front. Orange and white grapefruit. Watery pineapple. Grainy and crackery malt. Just a slight hint of nougat. Hemp seed and some green and slightly piney hop flavor and mild bitterness. Green grass and faint peach and young mango on the finish, along with a dry hop tannin fade.

M: Very light bodied, but there is some soft creaminess to the texture. It still comes off feeling rather watery, though. Carbonation has a seltzer bite. Hop tannin creates a mildly raspy feel.

O: Eh, I can't say it's what I'd ever really reach for, but I applaud the effort. There's certainly a growing market for low alcohol and even NA beer, and people are finding more occasions to drink them. I get the desire to make a "resolution beer," but in all honesty it's a tall task to make a great one. Take it with a grain of salt since I can count the number of NA beers I actually enjoy with less than a hand's worth of fingers, and I was never too big on small beer either. We already went through a session IPA fad in the mid 2010s and it didn't really pull through. I see all the same pitfalls here- promising nose, but then you get a thin emaciated body, it's overly dry and tannic, and just not as well balanced or drinkable as it should be.