Special Sauce (Equinox)
Mikerphone Brewing

Bottled 8/18/16; drank 8/21/16 @ the Yarchives.

Opaque orange/yellow appearance.

A rough pour yielded a nice white head; frothy lace.

Banana, orange citrus & pineapple notes in the nose.

Medium thick mouthfeel.

Pineapple & smooth, mild caramel flavors up front; dry, bitter notes on the finish.

Some tantalizing fruitiness lurks here, but the bitterness dulled the pleasure. Still decent.

 

 

 

Funky for an ipa

 

 

 

I drank this next to an Alter Ego to do a Chicago to NE IPA hop test.

Pours an orange similar to the popular NE IPA style. The head was thick and stays around decently.
Smell is somewhat fruity but not as much as the Alter Ego I had.
Tastes great - hops are there but any bitterness is nicely muted.
Mouthfeel is juicy, but again slightly less than a TH beer.
Special Sauce is damn good and a good representation/comparison to TH IPAs. Less aroma and more earthy but excellent.


Kudos Mikerphone

 

L- Hazy bright orange color. Heavy lacing, thin, soapy head.

S- Sugary tropical fruit, though not nearly as powerful as batch 1.

T- Fruity, mango and pineapple. Some hop bitterness.

F- Medium body, dry finish.

O- Pretty good, but I liked Get Fresh Flow and SS Batch 1 better. Really would have liked to try Citra or Nelson Sauvin.

Hazy muddled orange, thin layer of bubbly foam, minor lacing. Aroma is yeast driven as much as it is hop derived. A lot of bubblegum esters blend with resiny hop oils, not an especially fruity aroma.

Resiny hop bitterness in the taste, very earthy aftertaste. Bubblegum and grapefruit peel. Medium bodied, lingering moderate bitterness. Overal it's ok, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Sorry hype machine.

Golden orange in color, mostly opaque and hazy. Ample, billowing bright white head with superb retention and lacing. Aroma is tropical fruit, lesser notes of citrus, dank, and spice. Taste is bigger and more complex. Citrus, lemon, and massive tropical fruit flavors pop on taste. Bitter citrus and slight alcohol notes linger on the finish. Medium body with moderate-high carbonation. Balanced, slightly dry finish with mild bitter notes I mentioned. My first Special Sauce, definitely an excellent brew!

A: Very cloudy, golden yellow typical of an IPA
S: Tropical juice, mango, banana, orange, papaya, pineapple, sweet tangerine
T: Pineapple, sweet tangerine, strawberry banana juice, balanced bitterness, tropical, light mango
M: Very creamy with the perfect touch of carbonation
O: A very nice double IPA that you can easily slam due to the balanced bitterness, hidden abv and lower carbonation

 

 

22 oz bomber poured into an oversized snifter. Beautiful deep orange-ish color, excellent head retention, smells juicy and tastes tropical. Taste is unique to my palate and I assume it is primarily due to the Equinox hops and of course, to the name of the beer itself. A great take on the NE style IPA, Mikerphone is the leader in this market for imitating this style.

 

 

Cloudy golden honey pour. Aroma has a lemony essence with mild grapefruit. Some pine. Taste is the same. Mouthfeel is a bit viscous. Pleasant lingering of hop. Some guy was beelining for this with elbows up when I went to grab this off the shelf. Store clerk mentioned that this was pretty popular , for now. My expectations were on the high end I have to say. Pretty tame. Pleasant nuff craft but by no means blown away.