Fuzzy Baby Ducks
New England Brewing Co.

2023-05-28
12oz can served in a...tumbler? I guess? sort of an angular almost teku shape, without a stem. Can is dated 03/24/23. Got it from @sulldaddy in a retaliatory ninja strike in NBS BIF #17.

Pours moderately hazy until the very last of it comes out of the can, then it becomes fairly murky. Head is large, dense, creamy looking, and settles slowly. Smell is somewhat mild, I get some general tropical notes and some orange julius. Maybe a little bubble gum.

Taste turns a corner. Moves more toward bubble gum and a green melon rind bitterness, not the juiciness I was expecting based on the style and the name. There's a little bit of a honeysuckle sweetness. Tropical stuff is there but kind of masked. The honeysuckle sweetness and melon rind bitterness are working pretty well for me right now, though.

Mouthfeel is medium, dry, not chalky at all. Overall, I was expecting a creamy juice bomb, and this certainly defied that, and it's quite nice.

Draft 5/27. Very solid beer. Tastes like an IPA, as in it would be a good reference beer against which all other IPAs should be judged. Easy drinking, nothing overpowering or too weird or funky. Not a "juice bomb", not "dank", not "creamy", not "opaque hazy". Just an orange/gold, clear beer with a pleasant bitter bite. Tasted like it had more alcohol than it did (I would've had another had I known!)

Semi-hazy, orange body; nice carbonation; thick, sculpted, semi-creamy white head. Fresh citrus and tropical fruit aroma; mango and tangerine. Pleasant yet muted taste; citrus-forward; orange and grapefruit; very sedate biscuit-like malt undercurrent; fairly strong hop bitterness. Full body; slightly acidic and tart; juicy; touch of dryness at the finish.

A pretty tasty India pale ale that I see more as a hybrid between a New England hazy and a west coast IPA (the brewery describes this as a single hop IPA).

Pouring temperature: 40 °F; canning info: QUACK 04/03/23
Source: @tasterschoice62

Pours a beautiful hazy orange color with a creamy white head that provides significant lacing. Gorgeous beer. The nose is brimming with ripe oranges, mango, and papaya aromas. Wow.

Those notes are prominent on the taste, with the mango being the leader of the pack and a delicious leader it is. So juicy and smooth, especially with a bit of a creamy oat flavor at the back of the palate.

The mouthfeel is full and (surprisingly) a bit prickly. This is a magnificently executed single hop IPA featuring Citra that is more than worthy of its hype. Simply tree-men-dous.

Pours a hazed honey color with one finger of cream colored head. Pretty good head retention, okay lacing

S: Grassyness & citrus; expected more nose

T: Follows the nose, some lime, sweet breadyness, mango & a kiss of pineapple up front. Green melons, a little dryness, grassyness, lime & a little tangerine as this beer warms. Finishes a little grassy & dry with green melon & a kiss of pineapple

MF: Medium body, pretty lively carbonation, good balance

Super drinakbility, I feel liked this would've knocked my socks off 10 years ago, still solid

 

Pours a hazy darkish golden. Hazy in the traditional sense, not in the opaque NEIPA sense. Citra hop aroma - mango, guava, some grapefruit. This is a lot more balanced than a lot of IPAs and that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just not what I was hopping for after all of these years of hearing about how great it was. If this was always available, I would prefer this to say a Zombie Dust, which to me leans a little too soapy and seems to now be available everywhere in the Boston area on draft. This is not quite a new school interpretation of Citra in that it leans heavily into that grapefruit character, but there's enough new school that this impresses. You would think that with this beer available, Tree House wouldn't be the best brewery in Connecticut. This is a good one.

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at Lulu's, Allston. Long time want of mine that never seemed to make it over the border. Has that real early-2010s vibe to it, sort of a nascent NEIPA with lots of pithy citrus-forward aromatics and flavors, a clean/crisp crystal/2-row malt bill, and a non-intrusive yeast profile. At this point not a "wow" beer, but definitely solid. Hint of diacetyl in the flavors.

80/100

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 ounce can in a stemmed tulip IPA glass. Canned about 2 weeks ago.

Bright orange color topped by a 2F foamy white cap that leaves sticky rings of lacing.

Citrus hop aroma from the orange family, rind and peel. Sweet malt and resinous pine. Aromas are subtle.

Orange flavored with some tropical fruits like pineapple and mango. The malt flavor is toasted and sweet.

We’ll carbonated, very smooth, bitterness is tamed by its sweet juices. Medium body.

More of a traditional west American style IPA with a bit of juiciness rather than a full-on neipa. Very good.

 

 

Musty, super pithy/dry, orange peel, a little mango. Great body for the abv. Tastes like Citra beers used to. Great ipa.

Golden apricot colored, very slightly opaque, streams of fine bubbles rise up to an eggshell white head of a quarter inch of foam that slowly recedes. Low aroma of citrus, pine, a bit of honey malt riding beneath that gets pushed back down. Firm bitterness, even mouthfeel, finishes a bit tingly. Excellent beer. More like a slightly opaque west coast style than New England.

 

 

 

Poured orange amber haze with a manilla colored head. Yup, NEIPA.
Aroma mild due to my chemically damaged nose, but I did get some orange and general citrus.
Taste was excellent, all Citra hops with all that goes with it. Citrus, pineapple and maybe mango.
The feel is almost perfect for NEIPA.
Very glad I got to try this, thank you Bill!

 

 

 

Look...A mostly yellow haze with orange baked in with a small amount of haze. Ample high carbonation
Smell...hoppy citrus and the dank. Fresh grass smell and sour pineapple. Pretty complex for a beer at 6.2% ABV
Taste...orange bitter with a juice feel because of the carbonation. Finishes with a hop boldness with plenty of drying.
Feel...I always find New England Brewing with a real emphasis on filling their cans to the rim with goodness so as no air has even a shot at ruining the well constructed concoction. Same here. More than adequate carbonation with a "pop rock " on the tongue haha.
Overall...First time I have had this beer as you guys say, "in the wild". Excellent as remembered. A memorable beer I plan to revisit as it becomes more and more available. I suggest that fellow BAs, you do the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t understand the 99 point rating - it’s an OK IPA, nothing more or less. On draft in Milford CT.

Appearance is slightly hazy.

Smell is subtle, mostly just standard IPA, with a very slight hint of grapefruit.

Feel is more effervescent than the slight head would suggest, along with some acidity.

Taste, to these taste buds that have been drinking beer for almost 50 years, is just a pretty basic IPA. Not bad, good even for an IPA. But nothing special. Mostly bitterness and some acidity. No grapefruit or citrus to speak of. Nothing ‘wrong’ with it, but nothing in particular to recommend it either.

Either I’m missing something, or the Emperor has no clothes.