Celestial Glow
Side Project Brewing

 

Big thanks to Seth for this one! This will be one of only maybe 7 forays into Midwest NEIPAs.

Pint can - dated 03.12.20 - poured into an ale tulip at 45°F.

Pours perhaps the closest thing to orange juice I've ever seen. Entirely opaque, turbid glowing pale orange with half a finger of weak foamy cap that quickly settles. No visible effervescence. It's orange juice.

Nose: If the look isn't enough to convince you that this is juice, the aroma sure will. This is just bursting with fresh squeezed orange and pineapple, and peach juice. Some oily orange zest and a spritz of grapefruit, a hint of guava, a hint of banana, and some dried mango. It's pure fruit, and it's mouthwatering.

Palate: The beer greets the palate with an immediate acidity - again, very fresh squeezed, but there isn't any hop burn. Nectarine, white peach, apricot, Grapefruit, orange juice, pineapples, some unripe melon, unripe guava, leading into some of the green grassy notes of Galaxy, without any of the dank, musty, overripe stone fruit notes it generally presents. All of the tropical fruit characteristics of Citra and El Dorado, with Citra really living up to its name with pure citrus juice, rather than the more mango side of it. The fruity notes blend into that green hoppy Galaxy note, which then blends into a big pithy finish. And I mean pithy. Not terribly bitter, but just insanely pithy, with tons of drying orange and grapefruit rind. The malt base certainly has a good dose of oats in it, as it's extremely pale, and there is very little sweetness to this beer. Just enough on the front end to drive home that jooosie vibe, but dries out quickly and allows the hops to be hops. Maybe finishing around a pithy 55IBU.

Mouthfeel/Body: In spite of the massive double dry-hopped juice bomb that this is, one thing that really elevates this beer is the medium-crisp body. So many beers that gi after this profile also go for the whole milkshake body, and it's no longer a refreshing hoppy beer, but a hop smoothie. This is a refreshing hoppy beer, with no sticky, sludgy, stodgy body. It still has that New England style softness to it, but it's actually crisp, snappy, and fluid, with moderate effervescence. Well balanced 6.9% ABV.

Overall: I can't believe I'm saying this, but in my opinion, this is basically the pinnacle for the modern New England-style IPA. The fact that it comes out of Missouri from one of the premier American barrel programs is a real plot twist, but I have to tip my hat to Side Project for this one. A near flawless execution of the style, with everything in all the right places, and an absolutely explosive delivery. World-class.