Fresh Hop Wanderjack
Breakside Brewery - SE Taproom

lucky to have found this on tap, just so tasty, what wet hop season is all about and the kind of beer that makes me excited for it every year. this is brilliant, done with strata i believe, and its all the good parts of normal wanderjack but kicked up with an oily just picked freshness all through it. hints of coconut and mango even peach in the nose, more herbal with tea, lemon verbena, and honeysuckle in the flavor, some weedy dankness but not real bitter ever, even late, and astoundingly easy to drink, could have had a dozen of these! i love how light it is on the grain side, golden and simple, off dry but just right, still in balance, and i think the neutral ferment is nice too, this is minimal on purpose so that the hops can shine unimpeded. notes of honey, elderflower, grapey sativa, and white wine in here, some pineapple tropical character too, juicy and at the absolute peak of freshness. this is dialed in, super refined and delicious. frothy feeling and pretty light in body, with great carbonation, and clean for how hoppy it is. overall an exceptional specimen, a nice showcase of this hop, and up there with the best fresh hop ales ive had this season. i hope to encounter this one again, real impressive!

 

Look: Opaque light to medium yellow with a quick-forming head that builds and quickly settles to a lid, leaving good lacing behind
Aroma: Pine, lemons, grapefruit, orange, Cannabis, freshly cut grass, blueberries, wafts of floral notes, and some bready malt
Taste: Lemons, floral hops, and cut grass come together in full force to start this off and quickly joined by pithy and juicy citrus fruits. Raw hop cones, pine, and dank are prominent in the middle before citrus, grass, and flowers close it out with a tongue-scathing bite
Mouthfeel: Full, slick, medium-high carbonation, and dry on the finish
Overall: This is awesome stuff. After the fresh hop version of this eluded me last year, I was pumped to see some at a local spot that usually doesn’t have much in the fresh hop department, and it was worth the wait. A great showcase of fresh Strata in an already phenomenal base beer is literally scratching all of the fresh hop itches I had. Seek this one out!

 

Crowler from ABV. Side by side with regular Wanderjack.

Looks like the original, but the nose is just intensely hoppy, more so than the original. Dank, skunky wet hops, oily, resiny, dank and awesome, but unfortunately, lacking in the balance and breadth that makes Wanderjack special. The palate. Is also a wonderful expression of the best fresh hops have to offer, just indescribable. The palate opens pungent, bitter and with dank, fresh hops, with flavors of Strata clear. Drying, bitter, dank on the finish, with the fresh hops hiding some of the hop breadth, particularly the tropical fruit notes that make WJ awesome. Still, this is lovely.