Bondcliff
Schilling Beer Co.

 

Poured from undated can into a shaker glass. It pours a hazy, bright tangerine with nearly a finger cap of fluffy, eggshell-colored foam and thick, clinging lacing. The nose is bright and fruity with notes of orange/tangerine, pineapple, peach, and soft floral hops. It opens highly fruity with both sweet and tart citrus, including orange, lemon peel, and grapefruit rind. There is some additional creamy sweetness underneath that gives it a creamsicle taste, as well as hints of red berry and tropical fruits. But the initial sweetness is quickly balanced by sharp, biting hop bitterness. I've checked the website and Untappd but find no reference to the hop bill. The mouth feel is surprisingly lite for the 8.5% ABV and murky appearance. It drinks easily. Overall, Bondcliff is a well-crafted DIPA. I wish I knew which hops were used and the date of the can.

This was a brew that I picked up at Gary’s in Madison not that long ago. Enjoyed the other beers that I’ve had from Schilling and this was on par with those, as it was quite enjoyable from the get-go!

Quite murky and goldenrod in color, this was topped off with plenty of head that contained bubbles of all sizes. No lacing was to be seen as the suds were go e once the head settled down. Lots of dank berry in the nose - especially blueberry juice and strawberry as there was enough fruit patch to accompany that. Some wheat and spelt emerged once this warmed as the taste was just as heavy-handed and full as the nose indicated.

The overt presence of booze only reinforced this as this beer had more than enough heft to it. A bit of vegetable and exotic hope only added to this beer’s allure, as it almost felt like soup. Thankfully, it wasn’t that thick as this was pretty smooth for something with more than enough alcohol in it. Loved the label but didn’t love the lack of date anywhere, even though this held up fine. More than enough going on here but in the end, this was a New England IPA that almost felt imperial in nature!