Mootopia
Bolero Snort Brewery

Initiated by the pour of all the contents of a pint can into a clear glass liter mug come these observations: The beverage pours out strawberry blond, with only a slight head and glass lacing. The aroma is more funky and stale than inviting, although that just could be the hop/yeast/malt combination results. It certainly drinks better than it smells. There's a nice yeasty malt sweetness and some body to the mixture. Perhaps a little too sweet overall and way short of many NEIPAs hazy softness, but not a bad beer. It drinks more like a DIPA that the self-categorized New England IPA.

 

 

Bolero Snort Brewery "Mootopia"
16 fl. oz. can. The production coding is illegible. Contract brewed at Wyndridge Farm Brewing in Dallastown, PA.
$4.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Please tell me where this cow theme is coming from? What does a bolero have to do with cattle? Has the brewery misinterpreted the word bolero? Toro is the Spanish word for a bull, not bolero, that's a type of music. Anyway, "Mootopia" pours a very hazy deep golden beneath a two inch or so head of densely foamy off-white. The aroma offers mixed fruits although orange and melon seem to stand out. There's also a little bit of grassiness and light pine to it as well. On to the flavor... it's much fuller with a more distinct melon note, and some berries.I'd say there's a little bit of pineapple, some mango, and a little bit of stone fruit as well. It's interesting, and certainly different than the juice bombs that so many places are putting out these days. The malt is fairly basic, a little doughy and just lightly biscuity, and a firm bitterness balances it. There's some residual sweetness in the finish but overall it dries fairly quickly, leaving behind some earthiness, spiciness, and a touch of pine - and let's be honest, you kind of expect a little bit of sweet malt in a double IPA anyway; if it wasn't there it would probably seem too thin and alcoholic. In the mouth it's medium bodied and quite smooth, I'm assuming due to residual proteins. The alcohol never really shows even at 8.1%, but maybe that has something to do with the drying factor in the finish as well. Looking back, the head held up fairly well and there's some thin but still very nice, craggy lacing across most of the glass. In the end it's probably not as balanced and polished as it could be, but the hops are worked out really well. Worth trying.
Review #6,804