Mystery Cloud
Gigantic Brewing Company

This is one of the best IPA's I've tasted, be it a regular or NE style. It has a mild malt and hop taste with a touch of sweetness. It is slightly dank and seems to have the perfect balance of hops and malt. It is juicy and tropical and one great beer in my opinion. Rated. 12-31-2020 56 IBUs

500ml bottle

Pours two fingers of fluffy, creamy white head into my Willi Glass. Retention is above average, and a finger of head remains after a few minutes. Initial lacing looks magnificent. Body is orange juice. Looks very nice so far.

Nose is soft, tropical - mango, papaya. Some noticeable sweetness, nearly perfume-like, maybe even some caramel. It smells really good, potentially a tad too cute and sweet though.

Flavor is really rough at first. Vitamin-C, with a watery backbone. As it warms it cleans up considerably, and some of those tropical flavors come through.

Mouthfeel is also pretty choppy initially. Borderline flat with a paper-thin body; as it warms that body starts to smooth out. Citrus is extremely sharp and bitter until it warms, and even then it’s still pretty noticeable. Not much in the way of sweetness. Subpar mouthfeel.

Drinkability is ok.

Appearance turned out great, thick lacing.

Overall this is very peculiar, but it comes out pretty decent by the end.

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a IPA glass.

Look- Gold, hazy, no visible sediment, fluffy white head, above average lacing and head retention.

Smell- Pine, bready, slightly citrus.

Taste- Piney, bready, slightly citrus, slightly tropical, sweet.

Feel- Medium body, average carbonation, astringent finish.

Bottle poured into a Russian River Brewing Co pub glass

A: Pours hazy golden orange amber with a creamy off white head that hangs around and slowly settles to a firm layer that leaves some thick lacing.

S: Over ripe tropical and stone fruit, a little citrus, resinous pine, slight herbal notes, bready malt, and caramel sweetness.

T: Tropical and stone fruit, peach, mango, passion fruit, papaya, apricot, and hints of melon and cherry, citrus, orange and lemon, a little resinous pine, slight earthy herbal notes, bready malt, and caramel sweetness.

M: On the fuller side of medium body, moderate carbonation, creamy smooth.

O: Very well balanced, great depth of flavor, and a fantastic mouthfeel. Damn good beer!

Very turbid orange beer with a nice sized thick and frothy off white head.

Aroma is very citric..mostly lemon and mango, some peach.

Taste is very well melded and balanced..but mostly citrus lemon and some orange peel. Creamy and nice.

Very nice mouth feel thick and smooth.

Nice beer.

I wouldn’t call this a traditional hazy IPA, but I would call it a pretty damn good one. Juicy, tropical and a good “mouthfeel,” for whatever that’s worth. Give it a shot and enjoy.

 

I am winnowing through the Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody & this one was one of many Tavour shipments that I received until we parted company. I just have enough beer either already in my possession or locally available to warrant continuing to have more shipped to me. Enough is enough.

From the Bottle: "'I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti' - Hannibal Lecter"; "Hazy IPA"; "Our super juicy, soft and fluffy IPA is loaded with Citra, Simcoe and Crystal hops creating citrusy, tropical, and dank deliciousness."; "[Beer] #61 in the endless series of limited edition and artisan beers"; "Artwork by Nicholas Barrome".

I almost never know where to begin with these Gigantic 500-ml bottles & then it dawns on me - Pop! the cap. Following this exercise in silliness, I began a slow, gentle C-Line pour into the awaiting glass. I was quickly met with a LOT of foaming action, forming three-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, French Vanilla-colored head with excellent retention that left so much sticky lacing in its wake that I wondered who was going to clean it up. Color was a slightly-hazy Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7) & I would have chalked it up to chill haze had I not known better. Nose was dank, citrusy & fruity, like grapefruit & lemon had been added to tropical fruit salad just before a bag of dank had been sprinkled liberally over it! Yum. Mouthfeel was medium to full, not quite creamy, but on the approach. The taste was just edgy enough to keep me happy since I am a) not a fan of hazebro beers & b) not a fan of tropical AIPAs. Here, it was a meeting of several worlds - haze, tropical & citrusiness with none of them really gaining the upper hand. Collectively, it worked for me & while one was enough, I found it very mellow & satiating. I was especially struck by the appearance of a honeydew melon flavor on the semi-dry finish. I would have liked the IBUs to be a bit more assertive, but that's just me. YMMV.

 

 

 

Mystery Cloud from a growler.

Looks like a hefe.

Smells like fruit juice.

Tastes like fruit juice.

Feels soft. Slightly creamy. Not as sweet, but like juice.

You like juice? Here's some juice. Cheers.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a hazy, occluded orange amber with a big two finger white head with good retention and thick lacing. Aroma of faintly caramel and pale malt, tropical hops, passionfruit, mango, light stone fruit, lemon. Flavor is mildly caramel malt, dank, citrus and tropical hops, lemon grapefruit, mango, pineapple, hay. Finishes with mild bitterness and pleasant residual mixed fruit. Excellent moderate creaminess and mouth feel. Although described as a NE/NW hybrid IPA, this tasted fairly standard NE IPA, with high haze and an emphasis on fruit flavors over pine and citrus. Those hop flavors are lurking in there somewhere, which does add some interest to the classic tropical fruit flavors. The finish is surprisingly light in bitterness, which also makes this taste East Coast. The flavors are not intense, but are greatly enhanced by the creamy mouth feel that makes the whole tasting experience more enjoyable. Not a huge fan of tropical fruity IPAs, but this was quite drinkable and refreshing.

This was neither particularly hazy nor particularly hoppy. The flavor was more muddled than anything else. I wouldn't say it was bad, per se, but as a hazy IPA this is one of the most lackluster examples I've tried (and my experience is limited to mostly Oregon breweries). I suppose if it's a rule that every brewery has to take a stab at the style there'll be a lot more of these.