Spirit Crusher
Holy Mountain Brewing Company

This one presents a solid cloud of orangey-yellow with coarse froth in the Troubadour chalice. Aroma of orange and vanilla. Like a lot of these hazy brews, it tastes fruity and pleasant for about two mouthfuls. Then the screwy off flavors and old fruit and acidity emerge. However, if you like the extremely fruity, all-orange-all-the-time taste, this is IT. From the 16 oz can purchased at Elizabeth Station. No date, but apparently it is in production again. For some reason.

 

 

Thanks to HopBroker for this one. Canned on 6/6/19. De Rigueur 16oz can with press-on label. Poured a very murky and turbid orange color with an inch of white head that had decent retention and low lacing. There were plenty of floaties throughout the glass.

The aroma featured the expected fruity hops, very low malt, and just a hint of yeast.

The flavors were a mess though; some of the fruity hops, but an overall harshness, a strong alcohol taste and burn, and an extremely astringent grapefruit bite combined to make the taste unpleasant.

The body was expected light-medium of the style, and had a medium finish.

Drinkability was very difficult. The combination of of astringency, alcohol, and lack of balancing malt made this beer absolute work to drink. Overall, not this breweries best work. Avoid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite IPAs tasted so far. Just such excellent representation of the hops. And wow, what winner hops! These are some of the A-list hops fresh from the source and bombed through, likely via repeated dry-hopping to over-infuse this beer with juice.

L - Just so thick and smooth and silty on the pour. Orange gold and hazy as a New England brew.
S - Just like juice! OJ and not in the Simpson way. A tropical richness that I'll call papaya, but not in the cloying way. Mango.
T - Smooth and biting and juicy all at once. The juiciness lingers and lingers leaving you that last impression a great pleasure. Some of the bite and freshness of the hops were evident--like putting your tongue to a raw hop. It sounds odd, but when I belched afterward, this was the dominant flavor and not in any way bad!
F - You can't fail to think this is smooth and juicy.
O - Could be a new favorite. Hard to top this one for a well-executed hazy IPA making use of proximity to West-Coast hops. Almost seems unfair.

Also ... Poured from a can to a tulip glass. Had side-by-side with Haze, a similarly hazy DIPA from Massachusett's Tree House. An interesting East-West experiment with both winning, in my opinion. The New England beer predictably nailed its own style with the aptly named Haze. And the West-coast brew brought Washington state hops to the table in a very similar style. And it might be heretical, but I'd say Spirit Crusher was even more orange-juicier, just in the way that it was more like orange-juice concentrate. Maybe more hop bite, too. Like tasting a hop off the vine. "Haze" may have been slightly more refined, which is odd to say because both have punch and smoothness. Balance. And surprisingly similar beers!

 

L: the thickest orange huge pour. Looks amazing in the glass.
S: dank tropical orange fruit; orange, mango, apricot. A lot of sweet juice to go with it.
T: apricot, mango, pineapple juice cuvée: this is very tasty, kind of hard to believe this is still beer. Juice bomb!
F: amazing. So smooth, creamy without any bitterness. Super easy drinking....best in class for feel.

 

 

A: Dark orange pushing toward brown given its opacity. Murky and thick. Still, not without head--finger of pillowy off-white (eggshell) bubbles, tightly packed, slow to dissipate.

S: Mmmm Mosaic. Overripe mango, strawberry, mixed citrus (light--neither juicy nor pithy). Aromatic intensity is moderate; not explosive, but not muted either. Definitely something green underneath the fruits, something herbaceous and earthy. Fresh leafy greens? Sage and basil maybe? Enticing, but not intoxicating (lol).

T: Dang, lotsa Centennial! Chalky Fruity Pebbles--dry, candied fruit flavors. Heavy on the oats.. Not quite Tired Hands-esque, but definitely getting a lot of sweet oat flavor. Huge mango, less citrus (sweet: think orange, tangerine, maybe some pink grapefruit). Finishes grassy, earthy, lightly vegetal. Not musty/dank/mentholic, but soily and green. Bitter leafy vegetable aftertaste (spinach, kale, herbs)--like picking them fresh and chewing on 'em.

M: Real nice n thick. Not too sweet despite oat addition, esp for ABV (strong bitterness balances what is prolly a pretty sweet base). Carb is soft and even; weight is medium-plus. Maybe a touch too bitter, but should mellow out nicely over coming weeks.

O: Very good NE IPA. Well constructed and without flaws, likely (I believe) what the brewer intended. Having only had one other IPA from Holy Mountain, my sample size is limited. That said, I was blown away by Astral Projection, and I'm not having the same eureka(!) moment with this one. It's more bitter, more earthy/vegetal, more oat- and Centennial- and Mosaic-forward. It's construction (mouthfeel, carbonation, balance) is spot-on, but I think it's more of a recipe preference vs. an execution opinion. This is a really well made beer that should really appeal to lovers of oat-forward earthy/fruity hopped DIPAs with assertive bitterness. And I suspect it will taste even better in a week or two!

Quite simply the best, perfect IPA I have ever had. Wow

 

Updated rating for June 2020 batch. Still very good but not as good as I remember when I did the initial review which included a rating of 4.75

Maybe my favorite DIPA of all time.
L: cloudy, muddy, muted, dull orange
S: tropical fruits, prinarily mango, followed by sweet hops
T: in line with nose, great balance (for a hazy DIPA at least)
M: nice and smooth, not too juicy or sticky like I have experience with some of the higher abv hazy IPA/DIPAs
O: awesome beer, going to have to try a few more before I conclude it is my favorite DIPA but at the very least it is in the top ten.