Bine Hunter - Cascade And Chinook
Bellwoods Brewery

 

Hazed orange colour, 1.5 finger of white head and some lace. Smell is big grapefruit forward hops, citrusy, mango and some orange with a little bit of malt to underscore this. Taste is full of green leafy hops, lots of concentrated hop, pine first followed by citrus, much more dank than the nose would suggest, medium bitterness and dry in the finish and citrusy aftertaste. Medium carbonation, medium light body and prickly. Nice a well done wet hop pale ale.

 

 

Appearance: Clear and effervescent pink-peach lemonade with deep yellow highlights, with a generous two finger mountain fluffy and soap suds looking white head, a Rip Van Winkle dissipation, and spotty patches of doilie loose webwork type lace all around the glass and surface.

Aromatics: Piney resinous with some sharp lemon citrus and more attenuated combo of sweet fruits (mango, pineapple, peach). The floral qualities roiling with the earthy hops in a match to see who will come out on top... there is no winner, they are still tussling.

Taste: Crisply bitter but surprisingly not as forest-floor as I was expecting. It is fresh, tart, with a secretive sweet malt that is trying to avoid detection, but you know it's there because the hops bitter is almost pleasant in its aggressiveness.

Mouth: Medium body with a very active carbonation that makes it almost spritzer like in what would otherwise be a light and buttery texture. Finish is gradual and unassuming, leaves the palate in a calm and courteous manner like a gentleman and doesn't leave behind much of anything except maybe some very light earth from his shoe that settles on the tongue until another sip is taken to brush it away.

Overall: A really good APA for me. I liked its level of hoppy dry and bitter, and it wasn't insanely hoppy - it was earthy but lenient in its bitter presentation which left a lot of flavour to be enjoyed.

Pairing: A pretty sturdy bitter still, I'd easily match this up with some fondue cheese. It is super refreshing when cold, and can easily accommodate the gooey, creamy, and bold cheese flavours quite nicely. I may even introduce it with small pieces of grilled jalapeno smoked sausage that can be dipped instead of the usual bread and such. Been a long time since I have enjoyed a fondue, this might just be the thing to pull the set out of storage one more time.

Service: Bottle
No date


A:
Pours a cloudy straw with visible particles in suspension. It has a soapy white head of a couple fingers that settles to a film. Some speckled lacing; okay retention. (3.75)

S:
Light hints of mango and orange leading you into pine boughs, spicy hop stankiness and grassy/wet/bruised/masticated vegetation with a thick malt structure that is a little sweet below the hops. (4)

T:
Mowing a lawn after it rains, moss, mud, caramel, spicy weed, muddled herbs, astringent. (4)

M:
Crisp, astringent, active carbonation, drinkable. (3.75)

O:
Tasty fresh hop beer.
It pours nice and is a really robust representation of the hops. You can taste their freshness in the earthy, sticky, green character that it has dripping from it. It is immediately fruity and juicy smelling on popping the bottle (mango, orange, pineapple), but it becomes WAY earthier as you smell it and the same goes for tasting it. There is a thick, sweet malt flavor underneath (Munich malt, maybe?) that is simultaneously good and bad for the overall flavor, I think. It holds it all together, but it is a little too spicy-sweet for the shredded vegetation flavors of the beer. Bubbly, resinous, drinkable. Nice beer, I'd have it again. (4)

 

 

Nose is nice and fresh, quite fruity. Pineapple, orange and grapefruit. Flavour is similar, perhaps a tad less vibrant. Citrus fruit primarily, but there is a tropical element (a bit of pineapple). A moderate bitterness, with a slightly astringent finish. From memory (unreliable as it may be), I enjoyed last year's versions a bit more, but this is nice stuff.