4th Anniversary
2SP Brewing Company

Got in a trade with larryi86. 16 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 7/23/2019. Pours lightly hazy/cloudy deep golden amber color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky off white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Thick foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, mint, green peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops and bready malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, mint, green peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, mint, green peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops and bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no astringent hop flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitterness. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready/grainy/sticky, and fairly resinous/rindy balanced mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 7%. Overall this is a delicious IPA. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/tropical/earthy hops and bready malt flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/resinous/drying finish; not aggressive. Great Mosaic, Nugget, Amarillo, Ekuanot, Mandarina Bavaria, Citra, And Centennial profile. Very vibrant, juicy, and fairly dank/earthy hops; with a nice sized pale/wheat malt backbone. Light residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and well made East Coast style example. Not much of a true NEIPA as claimed, though.

2SP Brewing Co. "4th Anniversary"
16 fl. oz. can, "CANNED ON 7/23/19 16:15 807-809" and sampled on 9/29/19
$4.79 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Has it really been 4 years? It seems like 2 to me, but I guess that's what happens when you get old. This one's a New England IPA and it looks like it. It's not too hazy but there are some particles in suspension. It's golden in color and takes on a little bit of an orange sheen in the full pint glass. The head is a short but creamy cap of white. In the nose it's fruity with orange and berries, lemon & lime, and a general "tropical fruit" note. There's also an herbal and lightly piney side to it. It's quite nice. On to the flavor... the juiciness remains but I don't get the notes as clearly as I did in the aroma, and it's not as sweet as I thought it would be given that there's a pretty solid bitterness here, and some acidic hop bite. That's OK though, it all works out in the end where it's dry, a little more piney, herbal, and earthy. It's not exactly what I'd expect of an NEIPA that starts off juicy because it then shifts into more of a "Heady Topper" gear, but maybe that makes it more interesting... ? The head held well despite it's smaller size (I did have a much bigger head on the first part of my two-part pour), and it's left some completely solid sheets of lace almost from the outset. I've got a roughly two inch tall wall of lace rising up from the surface almost completely around the glass - only where I'm drinking from is it not solid. In the mouth it's medium to medium-light in body and gently bristling with an almost effervescent, fine-bubbled, seemingly natural carbonation. So.... conclusion... they've obviously got some of my favorite hops in here as I picked right up on the berry-like notes from Mosaic, and the orange from Amarillo, and maybe even Mandarina Bavaria, but also one of the hops that gives you a lime note, maybe one of the New Zealand hops, I'm not sure. The aroma is great, but then it falls apart in the flavor because there's a little too much going on and those flavors get muddled. That's a shame, not that it's not still a good beer, because it is, but if they could have replicated that aroma in the flavor it would have been stellar. There's always next year!
Review #6,725
p.s.~ hahaha! I just looked at Woody's review, that's not a New Zealand hop, it's Ekuanot, and apparently there's some Citra, Centennial, and Nugget in there as well.

The CANQuest (tm) is back for New Tying Up Loose Ends Beer Sunday, Redux (Week 760)! This one takes us back, in the TARDIS, to Week 752.

From the CAN: "Brewed with Mosaic[,] Nugget[,] Amarillo[,] Ekuanot[,] Mandarina Bavaria[,] Citra[,] Centennial"; "Everything We CAN't Drink, We CAN".

I was really starting to flag after so much time travel, but no time like the present where The CANQuest (tm) is CANcerned. I beCAN with a Crack! of the vent, followed by a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. It foamed up wonderfully to form two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with excellent retention. Color was a surprising oh-so-slightly hazy Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7), which was actually a stylistic knock against it. 8=( Nose had the old skool smell of Citra & Centennial & this made me very happy as a longtime hophead. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was a hoppy mélange of flavors, ranging from pine & grapefruit to tropical fruitiness & it worked. I was CANcerned that it might be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, but this was GOOD. Hops were clearly the focus in this one with malt taking a back seat to the point of being almost undiscernible. I was really digging it to the point that over half of it had disappeared down my gullet without any aforethought. Hmm. Finish was pleasantly dry & left me licking my lips & CANtemplating asking them to make this again. YMMV.

 

L - slightly hazy, good head retention, some floaters
S - fruity, floral
T - citrus, slight dankness, slightly dry in back of throat, some hop bite
F - see above, finishes a little dry
O - I would consider this a “hybrid” ipa, ton of hop flavor(a la Heady) with a little bite(West coasty), a nice beer

 

 

16 oz can, dated 7/23/19, poured into a teku

A- A fairly clear golden copper with a three finger white head.

S- Citrus, piney, some caramel malts, hints of melons, floral.

T- Citrus, piney, floral, some malt sweetness, touch of melons.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- This is a tasty IPA, but I wouldn’t call a NEIPA.