Good Morning, Anxiety
The Veil Brewing Co. - Production Brewery

Anxiously, the entire contents of a pint can were emptied into a clear glass liter mug. An overly generous stark white head was produced by the action, but it could have been worse. Beneath the long lasting foam is a liquid cloudy and dull in its apricot-amber color. Muddled piney and citrusy hops are the best at getting the attention of the nose, with some vague sweet starchiness following. Muddled might best describe the overall taste, as the hops and whatever starches combine to deliver a modestly hoppy brew, with a sweet backbone that's not complex, nor flavorful. Lactose has its way of softening a hoppy bite at the expense of defining other taste contributions. At least this doesn't suffer much of a sticky mouthfeel as some milkshake beers do. To wit, the mouthfeel is acceptable, somewhat smooth and mostly clean. The glass lacing is sparse, although once the foam becomes a head, it's lasting. This is a good example of a milkshake IPA, a category of no middle ground for many, just like it, or hate it. This is one that can fall in between. Credit deserved for a deceiving ABV.

Balanced NEIPA without burn. I take it the lactose evened every thing out, whitewashed the scene. Just a beverage with some older hop flavours. Recent Can from City Beer.

Canned on: 10-9-25

A - Opaque golden tan pour with dense, thick, frothy lacing that sticks to the sides of the glass like cotton candy.

S - Big fruity nose with mango and tropical fruit.

T - Slight oaty malt base gets tampered down with tropical fruit, mango, sweet grapefruit, and ends with a soft bitterness to scrub away any sweetness.

M - Pillowy soft and chewy.

O - A rock solid D-IPA right here.

Light hazed yellowish orange. Nice tropical and citrusy hop aroma and flavor; juicy with notes of mango and papaya. Good balance with like bitterness. Medium bodied and fairly smooth from milk sugar.

 

 

Taste like you just chewed on a copper pipe. Could be good just way too harsh tasting to even finish one . Disappointing tastes like chewing on ibuprofen

 

16oz can

A- pours a hazy pale yellow with a one finger creamy white head that has good retention and leaves some lacing behind

S- smell is a bit muted for the style; some zesty citrus, white grape, mango & kiwi, creamy vanilla from lactose

T- zesty tangerine with some sweet mango and white grape notes. Mid palate gives some grassy notes, some creamy lactose sweetness on the finish with a linger of citrus zest and white grape

M- medium body with moderate carbonation, foamy mouthfeel that turns creamy into the finish

 

 

Today is a new beer to me.

The Veil – Good Morning Anxiety

8.5% ABV

The beer is listed as a Double IPA with milk sugars on the label – and listed as “IPA - Imperial” on BA.

The beer was removed from a 40ish degree temp fridge after having been refrigerated for approximately 3.5 weeks. Beer poured into willi belcher (cleaned after last beer before current beer).

First Impression: Pretty, but nothing to special. A brighter yellow with a more faint touch of orange. When poured from the can, the stream was very opaque; I was surprised to see it as cloudy and dark as it turned out to be. 3.75

Appearance: Nothing to write home about; more or less your standard ‘hazy’ DIPA. I do appreciate the color of yellow, although it doesn’t seem to be as uniform as I feel it should be, or as dense. It’s not losing points due to this, but ugly fucking can art. It reminds me of a 90s alternative CD cover. (I’d give the can appearance a 1.0) 3.75

Smell: Surprisingly, not as fragrant as many IPAs. This is actually a disappointment. I expect IPAs to just be jumping out of the glass. I wonder if that means this is a bit old, or if this is just a ‘Veil thing’. Smell is mostly just a generic bitterness much like the pithy white portion of orange peal. Touch of pine. 3.5

Taste: This is in the ballpark of what I like, but I’m not sure I’ll end up finishing the entire 16oz. I just don’t think this is really my thing, although I do feel it is done well. The lactose definitely helps lighten it up, but it still has a mildly astringent pine-needle like bitterness (although not so heavy on the pine) that just isn’t pleasant to me. Only one other BA review exists, and I saw them say ‘spicey’. I can get behind that descriptor. Everything is a bit muted; nothing is vibrant or jumping out. I suspect this would be at least a 0.25 rating better if fresher. (No dating on can, but it is at least 30 days since canning; I just don’t know when it was canned.) 3.75

Mouthfeel: Not pillowy, soft, or but definitely lighter than many other IPAs, and certainly better than many DIPAs, but not as good as it should be for containing lactose. Going to knock it for that. 3.5

Overall: I don’t Hate it like the last Veil beer I had. This is certainly done well, although it may not quite be ‘for me.’ I am about 1/3 of the way through the can, and suspect I won’t finish it. Just a bit harsh for me. If you like Hop Butcher IPAs, though, I bet you’d like this. It doesn’t have that nasty onion thing going on, but it definitely has the sharpness. Giving it a higher rating than I personally would, because I know it is actually a well made brew. I think the final BA score accurately reflects this beer. The label still sucks green weenies. 4.0

BA Review Score: 3.715