$alt Lyf3
The Veil Brewing Co. - Production Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This beer was freaking terrible. The salt overwhelmed the flavor and made me feel like I was drinking ocean water with every sip. Veil is now 0 for 3 in my book. Drain poured most of this can. #allhype

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: pours a light burnt orange to straw yellow. a fluffy, foamy head with strong retention and leaving behind a big frothy lacing. completely hazy and cloudy. opaque.

Smell: huge hoppy aroma, floral and spicy hops dominate with lesser notes of pine and apricot. huge resiny hop bite. sweet bready and grainy malts back up the hops.

Taste: opens up with a huge hop bite. floral and spicy notes are first, opens up with just a little bit of apricot before the pine and hop resin take over. A little bit of a salty bite cleans up all the hop character. malts just barely peak through near the end. sweet bread and crackers, slight amount of graininess.

Mouthfeel: good juicy and bitter feel throughout. the salt cleans up all the bitterness and leaves just a little bit of saltiness behind. end is dry and leaves you ready for another sip. just shy of refreshing.

Overall: The Veil has made some great hoppy beers but this one may take the cake for single IPAs. This beer has the juiciness and softness of a NE IPA, and the hop character and firm bitterness of a West Coast. Malts are spot on just to balance all the hops. Salt adds just a little bit of character and taste to make this memorable.

Purchased at the brewery. Canned on 09/27/16.

Pours a cloudy straw color with a foamy head. Looks like a NE IPA. The nose: simply incredible. The best way to describe it is it is like putting your nose into a freshly opened bag of hop pellets. Grapefruit and orange rind with a bit of pine resin in the finish. Dank and fresh. The mouthfeel has a silky texture, and the finish is dry but not overtly bitter. A deft hand handled the hop schedule on brew day with this one. The salt is very understated, and is most identifiable in the finish with a hint of saline solution on the lips, as if tears of joy were streaming down your face from the lovely hop flavor you are experiencing.

Fantastic, extremely drinkable IPA. It's under 6%, too, so you can go for seconds on this one. And if you love hops, you'll want to. I'm enjoying this all by itself, but I can actually see this playing nice with properly roasted poultry with giblet gravy. Something about the purity and intensity of the hops might work like herbs and cut through the fat in the gravy and the roasted, juicy flavors of the bird. The hint of salt in the finish would add a bit of "seasoning" as well on the palate.

I should mention everything I've tasted during my two visits to the tasting room was exceptionally good. Very hop forward but balanced brews. I can't wait to visit again and taste new offerings.