Double Dry Hopped Simcoe Daydream
Other Half Brewing - Center Street

 

16 oz. can. Hazy orange. Smells of pungent Simcoe. Lots of orange, grapefruit, and onions. Tastes of sharp Simcoe hops too. Some tropical fruit, citrus, and that oniony back end. Tingly acidic back end. Medium body. Nice hop flavor. I don't mind that intense onion attribute. Good.

 

 

 

 

Off-white head, tops out just over one finger, level surface with good persistence once it just gets to covering the surface, solid lacing ring. Opaque yellow liquid. The nose on the soft side, easy to suspect it’s the oats, offers mild tar and tobacco notes with much stronger melon and peach fruit, rounded out by yeast and pressed flowers. Medium-bodied and a tad foamy, the latter fits its overall genial character. More dankness here while in turn that melon, kiwi, mango, peach fruit gets appreciably sweeter. Not a lot of citrus, what’s there is pink grapefruit and tangerine. Again the oats appear to be a calming presence. Very good job of soaking into the palate. Having tasted 20+ Other Half beers this is way near the top in terms of drinkability, albeit it eschews the fireworks which seem to draw folks to the brewery’s offerings. Would easily purchase again. (Canned 9/21/20)

 

This was another beer that I bought at Other Half right before everything hit the fan in New York as it was one of their few recurring releases that I hadn't previously rated on here. While I'm not the biggest Simcoe fan, this was an enjoyable beer that wasn't overly complicated, strong, or dank as it went down relatively easily.

The pour to this was decent as it had a hazy and fairly bright golden hue with a fluffy head topping it off. Plenty of thick lacing was left behind as I worked my way through this with a few rings being visible near the top. Lots of pineapple and dank fruit cocktail in the nose with some resinous West Coast-style hops although the taste was much creamier and smoother than the aroma indicated. Overripe tropical fruit, white grape sourness, and a chewy body from the oats along with the sweetness from the lactose gave this a full, but not necessarily coherent, body that had some mint tingle and deep forest in the back. I wouldn't quite say this beer was a mess but it never really took hold on me as the light carbonation allowed for the odd range of flavors to linger as they never fully meshed.

Not a lot of booze in this as that turned out to be this beer's saving grace. Not quite East or West coast in style, neither fully cloudy or clear, not a straight shooter or full of varying hops, this couldn't quite figure out what it wanted to be and in the end, it just went down mindlessly. Canned on 2/24, there wasn't any sediment to be seen and fans of Simcoe or Other Half might end up wishing for just a bit more, knowing that these guys were capable of so much ore. At least I got another label to add to the collection!

 

 

 

Canned 2/24/20

Pours a glossy, turbid yellowish gold body topped with just over two fingers of soapy white head; good retention fades to a barely-there veil of cap, light collar, and myriad speckled/webby, soapy lacing clinging to the glass.

Aroma opens with sweet, zesty pine and cherry hard candy, giving way to mint and dank, rubbery hops into a lactic edge; a medley of tropical citrus wisps vaguely though the close.

Taste offers a muted dose of sweet pine, peach pith, some earth, and citric pulp rounding out the front, while touches of lactose on the back end alongside ripe grapefruit peel thin into the finish; sloppy profile muddles together thinly and borderline indistinguishably.

Mouthfeel presents a light body bolstered by a crisp, fluffy moderate carbonation; oily texture traces the background as creamy touches spot the back end with a mild-moderate chalky bitterness into the swallow.

Very underwhelming for a DDH offering, especially coming from Other Half; messy, watery, and a perfect example of oats/lactose coming undone before an IPA could develop.

Can straight and fresh from the source. Canned 2 Sept. 2019. Pours a murky straw yellow colour and a small white head with good lacing. Aroma's are superdank, resinous, light sweet and some fruit. Retronasal it's dank and resinous, grapefruit. Flavour is light fruity sour, light bitter and light sweet. Light bodied. Moderate hopburn. Long finish with light biterness.

 

**
09/15/19

Growler to snifter. (Growler from brewery I day before).

Super creamy. Soft hoppy, veggie, earthy.

Simcoe is a wonderfully simple hop.
Light touches of citrus and pine; but neither overpowering.

**