Flash Man
Magnify Brewing Company

so old-school it hurts, this tastes like Green Flash West Coast circa 2003.

 

Pours pale orange-gold in color with and a finger of white head that leaves behind sporadic lacing. Aroma is slightly sweet with some subtle tropical notes. Taste is sweet and lightly tropical upfront but turns towards pine and grapefruit with a moderately bitter finish. Good mouthfeel, medium body and moderate carbonation. Overall this feels a bit disjointed, I get hints of a NE IPA in the sweeter, more tropical notes but I also get a decent amount of West Coast IPA with the grapefruit, pine, and bitterness. This is a bad beer at all, I actually enjoyed it more than my 3.5 for flavor indicated but this just doesn't seem to have a cohesive identity.

This was another recent release from Magnify that I traded for and finally got around tonight. Not hazy like local IPA's or oily like those from the opposite coast, this had a bit of both as it was somewhat dank and waxy, though the juice was the aspect of this brew that stood out the most.

The pour to this was decent as the beer was golden, slightly hazy, and was topped off with a nice head that took enough time to settle down. Plenty of lacing was left on the side of my pint glass as the web covered more space than what was uncovered. Some dank hops, onion, piss (yeah, I said it), and soapy lemon on the nose with all of those present in the taste as well. This almost felt skunked but that was only because of the hops present and not from the age of this beer. Some tropical juiciness and underlying stone fruit was here but the overall flavor profile of this beer could have been brighter and livelier as the garlic and scallions that have typified Magnify's recent releases reared their proverbial heads here once again. The mouthfeel was quite soapy, with hints of tangerine and valencia serving as the saving grace; allowing for this beer to be just palatable enough to fully savor.

Thankfully, the alcohol was quite subdued as the odd range of flavors were allowed to mesh on my tongue without any booze getting int he way. While not a bad beer, this was typical of what Magnify has brewed in recent months. Not bad but just a step or two off from being truly great. These guys are trending in the right direction but it's a bit disheartening to see them stumble with this. Worth a go once for hopheads though this may disappoint die-hards.

 

16oz can received courtesy of MacMalt's box of (mostly) Garden State Goodies. No freshness date on the can that I can find.

Poured into a Kane goblet/snifter, this was a hazy shade of honey amber, with a creamy, beige colored head that dropped somewhat quickly and didn't leave much lace, but a foam collar endured for some time after.

Surprisingly, for something brewed so close to the east coast, this doesn't smell like a typical "East Coast IPA." Instead of the tropical fruitiness I would have expected, there's a grapefruity hop bitterness, with a subordinate sweet, bready maltiness.

Grapefruity sweet and bitter hop flavor forward, with a decent malt backbone. Compared to a PNW IPA, there's a distinct lack of the sticky pineyness I am used to, but the bitterness noted at the start carries through enough that the sweetness and malts don't take over things, instead making themselves known subtly, providing a backbone and some contrast but not rushing to the fore. Juicy yet dry finish, with emphasis on the juicy. The relatively high alcohol content is not conspicuous.

Medium bodied, with a somewhat sticky, resinous mouthfeel.

A pretty good example of a DIPA at the lower end of the alcohol percentage for the style that, while not really similar to local DIPAs, still packs a lot of flavor. This is something I could drink regularly if on at one of my locals. Good stuff!

 

Super fresh from the brewery! Nice west coast meets east coast. Super dank and tons of tropical notes with very light malt character. Killer combination. This one is a real winner.

 

golden pee yellow. cloudy. thin but fairly big bubble head. smells like onion. what a surprise. also vague tropical notes underneath. taste salty and bitter and peppery. feels aggressive and prickly. and the harshness sticks around. another onion and black pepper bomb from magnify. disappointing after the last ddh vine shine release. I don't understand how people like onion bombs that burn your throat like black pepper. but still they sell out in 4 hrs.

 

Fresh from brewery. Poured into Magnify tulip glass. It pours a lovely hazy honey-apricot color with a full finger of frothy, milk-white head and thick, extensive lacing. It smells of grapefruit, lemon peel, and fragrant hops. It's rather subdued. The taste features much more malt with some mild citrus and big bite from the Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade and Centennial hops and lupulin powder. It's a West Coast style hop bomb! It has a nice thick mouth feel with moderate carbonation and the 8% ABV poses no impediment to drinking more than one. Overall, this is a fine DIPA that should please hop fanciers.