Compadre
Hidden Cove Brewing Co.
- From:
- Hidden Cove Brewing Co.
- Maine, United States
- Style:
- American Pale Ale
- ABV:
- 5.5%
- Score:
- 84
- Avg:
- 3.67 | pDev: 8.17%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Sep 03, 2018
- Added:
- May 12, 2016
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 3
SCORE
84
Good
84
Good
Pale Ale with Belma hops
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Reviewed by ichorNet from Massachusetts
3.8/5 rDev +3.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.8/5 rDev +3.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
I've long been a big fan of Hidden Cove's Patroon IPA, so when they came out with a single-hopped APA, I was all about it immediately. This beer is brewed exclusively with Belma hops, which are a newer varietal grown only by Puterbaugh Farms in Washington state. They're supposed to have all of the typical characteristics of traditional West Coast dual-purpose hops but with some unique melon and berry aromatics as well. Definitely looking forward to this one!
Pours a dingy deep orange/amber color with a very retentive head of pure white foam that sticks around endlessly and leaves some decent sheets of lacing as its initial formation dissipates. This beer is über-unfiltered; looks like it came directly from the fermenter after a long dry-hop period with absolutely no cold filtering whatsoever. Almost comparable to older cans of Heady complete with chunks of yeast and hops freely floating and eventually sinking to the bottom of the glass after a few minutes of being buoyed by the carbonation activity. This kind of just looks gross when everything's settled, so it definitely loses some initial points for that. I've had barely-filtered (read: hastily racked) homebrew with less sediment than this, so it just seems like a lack of attention and not a stylistic decision on HC's part.
Luckily, the nose is a lot better with bright orange rind, pineapple, grapefruit, strawberry and cantaloupe aromas abound. This hop IS surprisingly unique, I will give it that. I'm always a bit leery about newer hop varietals having bizarre and unusual aromatic notes written about them in their press releases, so it's cool to have one that actually lives up to what's been said about it. I don't think I've had any other beers that singularly showcase Belma, so this is a new one for me. I get a touch of caramel and bready malt in there as well, alongside fleshy melon, blueberry and raspberry. Very interesting, though a tad unfocused, which I honestly kind of expected.
Flavor is fairly malty but also smacks of punchy hops brimming with lemon zest, orange peel, cantaloupe and grassy/pithy elements. Some chewy, toasty bread crust and strawberry preserves in there as well. Pretty damn unique, I must say. Similar to the nose, though, there's a lot going on and the body is so chewy and hazy that I'm struggling to delineate a lot of the flavors. Trillium even sometimes has problems with this in their dirty-looking pale ales, though they also typically integrate their hops a bit better and use less crystal malt than this does. That said, this is very interesting and definitely not too tough to put back. The rather heavy feel for a 5.5% beer prevents it from being "sessionable" to the same extent as many lighter-bodied ales in the same style, making this tough to rate fairly. I think it's just a bit under the curve for Hidden Cove, but I'd never be unhappy to drink one.
Sep 20, 2016Pours a dingy deep orange/amber color with a very retentive head of pure white foam that sticks around endlessly and leaves some decent sheets of lacing as its initial formation dissipates. This beer is über-unfiltered; looks like it came directly from the fermenter after a long dry-hop period with absolutely no cold filtering whatsoever. Almost comparable to older cans of Heady complete with chunks of yeast and hops freely floating and eventually sinking to the bottom of the glass after a few minutes of being buoyed by the carbonation activity. This kind of just looks gross when everything's settled, so it definitely loses some initial points for that. I've had barely-filtered (read: hastily racked) homebrew with less sediment than this, so it just seems like a lack of attention and not a stylistic decision on HC's part.
Luckily, the nose is a lot better with bright orange rind, pineapple, grapefruit, strawberry and cantaloupe aromas abound. This hop IS surprisingly unique, I will give it that. I'm always a bit leery about newer hop varietals having bizarre and unusual aromatic notes written about them in their press releases, so it's cool to have one that actually lives up to what's been said about it. I don't think I've had any other beers that singularly showcase Belma, so this is a new one for me. I get a touch of caramel and bready malt in there as well, alongside fleshy melon, blueberry and raspberry. Very interesting, though a tad unfocused, which I honestly kind of expected.
Flavor is fairly malty but also smacks of punchy hops brimming with lemon zest, orange peel, cantaloupe and grassy/pithy elements. Some chewy, toasty bread crust and strawberry preserves in there as well. Pretty damn unique, I must say. Similar to the nose, though, there's a lot going on and the body is so chewy and hazy that I'm struggling to delineate a lot of the flavors. Trillium even sometimes has problems with this in their dirty-looking pale ales, though they also typically integrate their hops a bit better and use less crystal malt than this does. That said, this is very interesting and definitely not too tough to put back. The rather heavy feel for a 5.5% beer prevents it from being "sessionable" to the same extent as many lighter-bodied ales in the same style, making this tough to rate fairly. I think it's just a bit under the curve for Hidden Cove, but I'd never be unhappy to drink one.
Rated by MattyTibbs from Maine
3.32/5 rDev -9.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.32/5 rDev -9.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Low rating for look b/c I pounded it from the can. I enjoyed the subtle strawberry that came through w/ the pineapple.
Jun 23, 2016
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