Toobz
Stoneface Brewing Co.

Toobz. Fuckin' Toobz. Look at the art. Look at this beer. What the hell, Stoneface? I have to say I was so psyched to grab a fresh four pack of this that I drove to Newington, NH to get it (about an hour with tolls on the way, gasp!) along with their Googly IIIPA triple India Pale Ale and their Farmhouse Noir, because who doesn't love a good funky, fruity dark saison?

Toobz pours a super-opaque, almost ridiculous-looking deep orange color with a non-retentive head of bone-white foam that quickly sinks down to pretty much nothing. No lace, no surface coverage, no legs... nothing. Guys, what? This looks like a kettle sour beer or something, and I'm just overall not impressed. Sure, the color and haze (err, complete opacity?) are cool and definitely what I expected, but the rest is a letdown.

So, this features a huge hop addition of Idaho 7, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops. These are some of the most coveted and strangest modern hop varietals that I can think of that also usually work decently well with each other/other hops, so to see them all together in a big ol' NEIPA was what initially inspired me to seek out this beer. The nose here is a mix of intense dankness, papaya, melon, tannic and grassy notes along with some light biscuity maltiness that really feels like a good mix of the three hops present. It's pretty densely-saturated and heavy on the tropical and green aspects that Mosaic pulls out, plus some of the more subtle tropical El Dorado aspects of mango and papaya. I7 shows up as a collaborator in the tropical realm, pushing more papaya, some light passion fruit, and its signature tea-like complexity.

A bit harsher than expected on the palate, with an upfront flavor of papaya and overripe mango riding into the mid-palate of wheat-like, dense maltiness and surprisingly rustic grains. Mid-to-finish transition has some grassy elements, tannins, and rough hops with a lot of burn that I didn't expect. Yikes, guys... this might actually be a little overly-hopped, which is disappointing. I've experienced the same thing with some stuff from Finback before. Luckily this is not undrinkable by any means, it's just a touch rough and aggressive. The soft feel makes things more odd, though, considering the intensity of the flavors on order. I really enjoy the idea behind this beer, and actually think it's still pretty damn good, but the faults are pretty apparent and could be tweaked to make this a top 5 NEDIPA, which is where I think it really deserves to be. The hop character and combinations are super well-done, it tastes exactly as expected, and it's fun as hell, but it just does not look or feel exactly right, and that hurts it overall.