Haka
Rhinegeist Brewery

 

The classic American pale ale gets modernized once the competent brewers at Rhinegeist get ahold of the style. Crisper, cleaner and heightened refreshment are all reached with a tweaked mindset and a healthy, heaping dose of hops from down under.

Haka's bright golden pour shows a modest haze with amber tendencies. Arid and frothy, the beer's seafoam leaks aromas of citrus, herb, wine and juniper as those American and New Zealand hops captivate the nose. Light caramel and honey weave a granola-like maltiness that's mild but supportive of the hop overcast to come.

Trailing sweetness ensures a hop-forward middle palate, controlled by white grapefruit, orange peel and lemon leaf. With the Nelson Sauvin hops front and center, their mineral-rich riesling taste joins the sprucy taste of gin for a piquant, lemony, lime-like character. But the American hops win the finish with their own moderately resinous bitter character of torn pine needles and fresh-cut grass.

Teeming with carbonation, the bubbles scrub the thirst from the palate with ease- heightening the sense of the beer's lighter-than-usual body. Hop-forward and dry, the ale trends slightly more IPA-like than the average pale ale. But the complexity of those Nelson Sauvin hops more than make up for it!

 

 

 

 

1 PINT, 6 FL OZ bottle
Served in a tulip glass

This beer pours a brilliant amber color with golden highlights. It is topped with three inches of off white head that sticks around awhile and leaves some nice lacing.

As soon as I opened the bottle I smelled grapefruit. Grapefruit tends to dominate the aroma.

Grapefruit carries into the taste. I get a little sweetness from time to time. The finish is pine.

Medium mouthfeel

This is a very flavorful pale ale. I really enjoyed it.

 

 

Had this one on tap at the brewery. Looks and smells great - ripe tropical fruit and some funky hops on the nose. I think this is my first Rakau hop pale ale, because the flavors are a lot different than what I was expecting. At first sip, you get the tropical fruit and peach characteristics of Rakau hops, but on the back end there was a funky, almost burnt rubber flavor that really threw me off. I couldn't stop tasting it, and that was one of the main reasons why I gave this a lower than usual score on taste. Not sure if this is a common characteristic of Rakau, but wasn't a huge fan of this one. Maybe it just needs to grow on me..