Skafl
Fair State Brewing Cooperative

So far, this is just another very guilty party to what is now an alleged IPA. It really can't be a traditional IPA without at least some barley malt. But, as the pour to empty a pint can into a clear glass liter attests, there's no, or barely any barley in this one. The foamy mess on top of the liquid is the first clue. It smacks so hard, there needn't be another. Starkly white, it recedes ridiculously unevenly and unattractively, leaving irregular glass lacing. The color of the liquid below is blond-amber and it's opaque, but not murky. There's a pretty good hoppiness to smell, mostly piney and somehow spicy. Still, there's too much foam and it continues to look unappetizing. Just as expected, the body is too light to be a real IPA. Miller High Life provides more. It's hard to deliver a good AIPA, let alone a good New England IPA when then body is comparable to Coor's Lite. The hopping is mildly earthy and resinous, but can't salvage this disaster. Other than a little cloudiness, this isn't really close to being a true NEIPA, with their complex balance of hops and softening starches. This is just terrible, regardless of the category.

 

 

 

 

According to the tall boy (this is the last one of a four-pack I had the good sense to purchase two weeks ago) the hop bill on this one is Sultana, Strata, and Columbus Cryo. Looks great in the glass...turbid and cloudy dull pale yellow-orange, not as chalky white as some in the style. A good head from a hard pour, no retention but very good lacing.

Nose: has some nice depth, but doesn't bowl you over: dank and kind of heavy (as opposed to bright) pineapple and passion fruit, on the front...some pine resin and weed notes that linger on the back.

Taste: less fruit than I got from the nose, still some resin, but then new stuff that I didn't get as much of in the nose -- berries, columbus spicy goodness, some pungent weed. Doesn't really come to much of a point, but I still think this is really excellent.

Feel: soft and round mouthful, but the spicy notes give it a little zip on the back half. Moderate body -- full but not very heavy.

Fair State for the win, yet again. For me, NEIPAs can get pretty boring and blend into one another, but this one strikes me as pretty distinctive. I enjoyed it a lot.

Pours a cloudy, opaque golden color with thick foamy head. Head retention is very good as is lacing. Citrus and tropical aromas. Nice and juicy taste. Crisp. Tropical fruit is a mild amount of piney resin. Very easy drinking and crushable. Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

 

 

Pours a hazy light straw color with a nice fluffy white head. Smell is fresh ripe tropical fruit of pineapple and citrus . Taste is tropical berries pine oranges and lemon spritzes, A very soft mouth feel from the spelt and oats, it fruity and spritzy with tropical notes