Roll Call: EC8
Gun Hill Brewing Company

From the can, it pours a hazy amber with a modest off-white head. Scent in the nose is a little pineapple and malt. The mouth follows the nose, with definite pineapple with a distinct malt base.

Lots of large suspended yeast pieces in the glass. The color is darker gold and opaque. The head starts at three fingers and recedes slowly. Good streaks and spots for lace.

Predominantly pale barley malt to the nose. I get a mild sweetness and an even milder touch of meat stew. The hop is very light, only giving enough spice to keep the beer from appearing like a light-colored barleywine.

The taste starts off neutral but I get a dry malt flavor quickly. The hop is more dramatic than in the smell but doesn't really kick in strongly until the swallow. Rich mouthfeel with a below-average carbonation level. I get a light earthiness to the finish, but I get a powerful, neutral peppery bitterness in the aftertaste.

On tap. Disappointing. Very little smell and bland, thin flavor. Maybe a bit malty? Carbonation is seltzery.

 

 

2018-04-13
16oz can served in a big snifter. Dated 02/05/18.

Pours initially almost clear, until the end of the can drops a load of flaky chunks. Doesn't look great. Smell is muted tropical fruit and flowers.

Taste is much brighter tropical fruits, citrus and pineapple. Not as much floral.

Mouthfeel is very dry. Overall, nice beer.

 

I recently signed up for Tavour.com & it has been a real boon for The CANQuest (tm)! I am primarily buying CANs with a few bottles in the mix, but it is always pleasant to open the box(es) & look at the CANtents when it/they arrive(s).

From the CAN: "East Coast IPA"; "Make Life a Declaration"; "New York State Labeled Beer"; "Brewed with NY State ingredients"; "please drink responsibly".

I Crack!ed open the vent & CANmenced a slow, gentle Glug into the awaiting glass. A vigorous in-glass swirl raised just over two fingers of foamy, soapy, rocky, eggshell-white head with modest retention. Color was a glorious Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5) with NE-quality clarity, leading to a visit from The Gelt Gang of Mammon, Midas & Croesus, all wanting a sip. Nose was riotous with notes of pine, citrus, tropical fruit, bag o' dank, freshly-turned earth & a light, undefined sweetness! My hophead mouth was like a spigot had just been energized & I was drooling unCANtrollably. I began to lap it up like a dog until I realized what I was doing & backed off. Yum! Mouthfeel was medium. The taste began with a caramel-honey-like sweetness that morphed into pineapple & mango-papaya just before turning into a bag of piney, sticky, resinous dank! Brewed once?!? Say it ain't so! I hope that they held onto the recipe because this one begs for replication! It was bitter, but not so bitter as to be woody and it was tropical, but not so tropical as to make me recall my Philippina Carmen Miranda & her homemade outfit of fresh fruit. This was like Baby Bear hitting Goldilocks' sweet spot, to mix & mangle metaphors. It might have been on the high end of the spectrum in terms of its ABV for an AIPA, but since I have been immersed in meads lately, I have ramped up my tolerance. Finish was semi-dry, not sweet, but just enough sugariness & fruitiness to smooth & round the edges to the point that I could not call it outright "dry". Nomnomnom. I wonder why they deigned to call it an "East Coast IPA" since that CANnotes a hazebro nightmare, but this was anything but. Kudos!

 

 

 

 

 

Canned 2/5... Deep golden color with particulate haze under a finger or two of white foam... Lots of orchard and tropical fruits, soft and smooth, moderate bitterness and sweetness, little bit of citrus versus a little bit of pine... Hints of caramel, resin, and honey crop up here and there... Really diggin' it...