Fresh Hop Green Magic
Mazama Brewing Co.

Look: Clear copper-bronze with an off-white head that builds and rapidly settles to a lid, leaving good lacing behind
Aroma: Limes, freshly cut grass, room-temperature rose, wafts of ripe watermelon, lemons, floral notes, and light bready malt
Taste: Opens up with a punch of citrus fruit, grass, and rose that is quite ‘green’ and sharp, but the edge comes off of it quickly. Watermelon comes into play along with the other flavors and go back and forth throughout and on the close
Mouthfeel: Full but light, medium-high carbonation, a little slickness, and a lightly sharp and astringent finish
Overall: I am digging this one. This is tasty and well-made example of a fresh hop pale with what I assume are Centennials given the aroma/taste profile. Plenty of fresh hop character throughout and as good as I remember it being from previous years versions, when I saw and had it

 

12-ounce can purchased at ABV Public House in Hillsboro, OR. Poured into a nonic half-pint glass. Couldn't find a date stamp anywhere on the can.

Look:
The beer has a straw yellow body that's slightly hazy. A vigorous pour raises a rocky head of snow white foam that leaves magnificent lacing.

Smell:
Mostly floral hops with some citrus peel and pine resin, all wafting up from a foundation of dry, crackery malt.

Taste:
Green Magic starts a little dusty/musty and blandly lagerish, but it cleans up and gains some malt depth as it warms. It drinks dry and somewhat grainy with decent fresh piney Centennial flavor. There's a bit of tangy lemon and bitter grapefruit peel flavor through the middle that leads into some really nice bitterness on the finish.

Feel:
Light-bodied and with crisp carbonation. Drying and ever so slightly astringent, yet quenching.

Overall:
I've been underwhelmed by this beer in previous years. But every fresh hop season brings surprisingly good beers from unexpected sources, and Mazama Green Magic Pale Ale is a great example of this for 2021. While I wouldn't call it one of the best fresh hop beers of the season, I have to give credit where credit is due. It is still an unexpectedly tasty beer with good malt, noteworthy bitterness, and just enough fresh Centennial flavor. Recommended.

Can from Uptown Market.

A clear light orange with a dense white head with good retention and lacing this looks great. The nose is centennial heavy though with less FH character than I was expecting. Citrus, grapefruit, mild pith. Mild biscuit. The palate opens mildly bitter with a lot of centennial hop character. Orange, grapefruit, grapefruit pith and zest, mildly oily. This really reminds me of fresh Two Hearted. Mild toast and soft dough. Drying, mild FH character on the finish. Light, creamy, quenching and bitter on the palate. Tasty stuff.

2021-10-05
12oz can served in a tulip. Don't see a date on it.

Pours a slightly hazy golden yellow color with a medium to small head an d a small amount of active carbonation at rest. Smell is grapefruit zest and maybe some pine.

Taste is a pretty darn nice fresh hop pale ale. Nice straw / grain / bready sweetness with a nice floral / honeysuckle / pine resin character and a fair amount of greenness. Bitterness is not overwhelming but builds as I taste it.

Mouthfeel is light, clean, dry. Overall, really enjoying it.

2019 version. 5.5ABV. 12oz can with no date poured into 14oz teku. Poured a lightly hazy coppery-gold color with just a thin cap of white head that had low retention and no lacing.

Muted hops, and lightly sweet malts in the nose.

Same on the tongue, with just a bit of citrusy hop bite.

The body was was on the light side of medium, smooth, and had a semi-dry finish.

Drinkability was fine, if not thrilling.

Overall, pretty average-ish. Maybe try it if you see it. Or don't. Whatever.

Hazy gold with two fingers of white head. Rings of lace.
Smell is green dank hops with some bready malts.
Taste green dank wet hop oil with some bread crust malts.
Mouthfeel is medium with good carbonation. The finish is dry and mildly bitter.
Overall a tasty APA with lots of fresh hop character. It might be the first fresh hop beer of this style that I've tasted. Well done Mazama Brewing. Canned on 9/5/2018.

2018 from a can. This year's rated at 5.5% abv.

Green Magic pours a nice and only slightly hazed golden color. The white foam above is impressive, thick, and leaves good coverage and lacing.

The aroma is surprisingly subtle for a fresh hop ale. Even by APA standards. But really digging in I notice the smell the get when you open the hops cooler at a Homebrew shop. Kind of hard to distinguish, but it's very herbal and even a little "dusty".

The flavor is also subdued. Again very herbal and dirty I'll go with this time. A toasted grain us all that compliments this.

Green Magic has a light/ medium body with a very bubbly carbonation. It's rather sharp and dry, and only just barely leans on the bitter side of the fence. I'd even call it very close to well balanced.

I was hoping despite previous reviews and ratings that Green Magic might have just needed to fine tune itself. This is my first time trying it and it was a let down for me as well. It's still a fine beer, bit compared to the fresh hop options around these parts it's very forgettable and not worth the asking piece. Cheers.

we all had much higher hopes for this one. a wet hopped pale that pours like an amber and doesnt drink real hoppy at all. its a well made beer, but i think its off stylistically, and i also think its not a great base to showcase what wet hops are all about, especially from this part of the country where hops are grown and where i expect a little more from the hoppy beers! its pretty malty, sweet and bready throughout, and the grain sort of starts and ends this one, not quite an amber, but definitely more caramelized and rich than i am used to in the style. the hops are there with their oils, and the nose is far more robust than the flavor, where the hops sort of fade into a vegetal background almost accent flavor, which is not where they belong when they are wet, at least in my opinion. some good body here and the fresh hop oils seem to love it, but it never really transfers all the way into the flavor for me. i had really high hopes for it, but this was a bit of a let down for a wet hopped beer.

edit: i was again less than fully impressed with this, the 2019 canned edition this time, still overly malty and not as forwardly hoppy as it should be. it was almost almost entirely flat from the can, which really is an unflattering texture when you are trying to deliver freshness to the palate. the flavors are fine, but the beer was a let down again...

 

 

 

Grunt from Albertsons. A bit on the light side in hops. Hazy, cloudy orange/amber body. Nice medium fluffy head dissipates to silky skin. Aroma is mostly malt, a little funk. Hops very light on the back end, but it has a nice malt bill