Digital Vibes
Other Half Brewing - Center Street

 

 

 

16 oz. can. Hazy orange. Smells of earthy and oniony mosaic with some white grape from the nelson. Tastes very earthy and oniony. Hints of the nelson remain, but it's mostly deep earthy flavors. Acidic back end. Not a pleasant one.

 

 

 

Pours cloudy gold orange color with a 1-2 finger thick head that faded slowly and left good spotty lacing. Smells of tangerine, grapefruit, pineapple, lime, biscuit, fresh cut grass, biscuit, tropical fruit, herbs, coriander, light peppery spices and some sweet notes like brown sugar. Nice smelling but muddy in the hop department.

Tastes like it smells with tangerine, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon, apricot, biscuit, fresh cut grass, wet cardboard, biscuit, tropical fruit, herbs, coriander, light peppery spices like coriander and white pepper, and some trailing metallic notes. More bready aspects in the finish along with some alcohol. There’s a nice level of bitterness and decent balance.

Original 2/16/2021 Review:

"Twenty Twenty Won" on the bottom of the can (very clever). Unfortunately no canned-on date. Guessing it’s somewhere in the range of 4-6 weeks old based on where it came from (Southern Grist 5th Anniversary Party) and the canning dates on most of the other beers that were made available. This can was brewed in Bloomfield, NY.

Pours a very substantial (for the ABV) pale orange-gold, fully opaque, entirely hazy, but not murky in any way. Attractive glow around the edges. Full-finger of bright white head initially. Very creamy looking. Minimal retention but it doesn't take many swirls of the glass to bring back a soapy cap. Impressive streaks and splotches of lacing down the glass. Good looking hazy in general, but especially for a 6.5% beer.

I'm searching for aroma, but there simply isn't a ton there. What is there certainly presents as an NE IPA and is attractive, with faint notes of juicy orange, mango, creamsicle, apricot, lemon-lime, damp grass, a little berry, and a little bready dough. But man, you really have to go looking for it to find it. You can tell there's some depth there, you just can't get to it.

Unfortunately the taste is even more watered down and uninspiring. I get some pretty bitter grapefruit, sharp herbal and grassy notes, lemon-lime, and an abrasive mineral/metallic/medicinal note at the end. jdhops mentions quinine in his review, which is spot on. Overall, fairly bitter with almost nothing to balance or compliment, and the strong tonic water personality just makes it unpleasant. If this is what the beer is supposed to taste like, it's a huge disappointment.

But to be honest, I feel like I'm constantly underwhelmed by Other Half beers, and in a couple cases they've been flat-out lousy, at least in comparison to their (and the brewery's) reputation. Don't know if I'm just late to the party and the quality has gone downhill, but based on my own experiences Other Half isn't at all deserving of the hype it receives.

Updated 9/3/2021 Review of a now 8-9 month old can:

I’ve never had such an extreme swing in my opinion of a beer just based on age, and it definitely shouldn’t work this way for an IPA. But 7 months later I now find this beer much, much more appealing. Still a little underwhelming and not overly nuanced, but the taste experience now has a wonderful balance of green onion, pithy grapefruit, and sweet citrus. Really striking combo. Taste profile updated from a 3.25 to 4.0, and overall grade updated from 3.5 to 4.0. That still doesn't put it into "exceptional" territory for me, but it's a big upgrade from my original experience. Perhaps a little age on OH's beers is the secret, as I've been largely underwhelmed with their stuff to this point.

On tap at Other Half Brewing Finger Lakes in BLoomfield, NY.

This one pours a very hazy golden yellow color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like blueberry, pine, mango, pineapple, and grapefruit.

This is solid - Mosaic, Galaxy, and Nelson seems like an all-star hop lineup. You definitely get that dried blueberry so common with Mosaic, along with piney/grassy bitterness, sweet grapefruit, and just general tropical hop sweetness.

This is light bodied, crisp, clean, and with a nice bitterness and drinkability.

These essentially all taste the same, but at least this one is done pretty well.

Brewed in Broomfield, NY. "Twenty twenty won" on bottom of can. Canned approximately 1/12/21 per Instagram.

L: Pours a thick hazy orange-yellow. Big thick pillowy head that sticks around. Some irregular lacing that's very pretty.

S: Blueberry and melon are most prominent, and combine for a really nice aroma. Some citrus and berries.

T: Kind of muted, compared to the smell. A little of everything that's in the aroma, but nothing stands out. Finishes dry and slightly bitter, with just a bit of an unpleasant quinine aftertaste.

F: Medium mouthfeel, and pretty smooth, Appropriate carbonation.

O: Everything about this beer is pretty excellent, except the most important factor: taste. Not bad at all, but a little muddled. The weird aftertaste doesn't help.