Spring Emergence
Bent Hill Brewery

this is why vermont rules, well, not this necessarily, but like, its an example of why beers from here just do it for me. its farmy but its hoppy but its well refined too, stronger than you would ever think from a sip or two as well, impressive. its bitter start to finish, but not from hops per se, almost a dandelion and tea vibe, herbal and flowery, spring time for sure as the name suggests, what am i smelling and tasting? the grain is unique and earthy, wheaty yeah, but more than that somehow, or different terroir, it just stands out, and the hops are bitter sure, but the start early and run awhile, lemongrass and jasmine and algae or something, i just love how it all comes together, somewhere between hazy ipa and saison, raw but refined, hard to even explain. i have liked the few others i have had from them, but this is a new level of awesome from these guys and it makes me so keen to try more. this brings a lot of style elements together in a sneaky strong beer that is blossoming and blooming and begging me to crack another. a dangerous four pack here, thanks to my parents for picking these up, i am a lucky man! hell dad even shows up at the airport with one already cracked for me, life is good!

This beer dubs itself as a Farmhouse IPA. Given that I went a bit crazy trying to figure out how to categorize it here.

The sweet malt character of this beer is why I believe it's more of a beire de garde than an IPA. The hop presence, or lack thereof, doesn't put this beer in the IPA category.

All that said this beer pours a dark yellow with medium carbonation and two finger lacing that lasts a minute or so. Not much in the way of smell but a nice caramel malt flavor with a dank mouthfeel that is pleasing to the palate. No sign of the 8%. If I saw these on the shelf again (I'd have be in VT again) I would repeat.