(were) Lemon Drops & Gum Drops
Granite Roots Brewing

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on 8/25/2020. Pours a very attractive hazy orange with a finger plus sticky white head that leaves thin webs of lace with excellent retention. 4.25

Smell is lemon, tangerine, hints of coriander, and grapefruit rind. 3.75

Taste is bigger and better lemon, tangerine, coriander, and grapefruit nicely balanced and tasty. 4

Mouthfeel is a solid medium, maybe a little dry, plenty of life, and at 6.5% extremely easy drinking. 4

Overall this is a nice NEIPA, not amazing but I would drink again. 4

So I bought this beer the other day, somewhat confused about the name but intrigued by the art on the can, the list of hops (Citra, Lemondrop, and Mandarina Bavaria), and the fact that they awkwardly declare the use of London III ale yeast as the fermenting agent of choice. I guess I should have remembered my childhood, as it's clearly the second line of a song by Barney, the famed purple dinosaur, but I was buying beer so... yeah. Anyway, this is an NEIPA clocking in at 6.5% ABV, canned a mere four days ago. Holy freaking fresh, Batman.

The pour is a really vibrant and active mostly-opaque deep-orange color with a raw-looking head of micro-bubbles. Some slightly-plush lacing and moderate legs with an easily re-rousable foamy collar. This is decent looking for sure. GR is, as far as I can tell, one of these small "batchy" breweries from NH... I have never really given them a shot, but this has promise.

Alright, so the hop profile here is at least moderately inspired and seems like a "bright" and intriguing combination. I get intense tangerine peel right upfront, with some pomelo, mango, and pineapple backing that up. El Dorado is seemingly doing great work in this recipe, and, considering I typically feel that ED is a mediocre hop unless it has great help, that is definitely a good sign. Tons of bright, freshly-squeezed citrus and rindlike elements really dominate the entire nose here, but it also keeps things kind of cool and doesn't seem like it's going to be over-the-top on the palate either, which I appreciate.

My first sip here is quite interesting... I get a big wash of juicy citrus that actually has character to it! Instead of being a generic "orange" flavor, there's tangerine, pink grapefruit, and even a little bit of meyer lemon with a touch of passion fruit and pineapple as subtle backing notes, kinda bringing out the "tropical" rear guard that El Dorado (and Citra, if we're being honest) can sometimes have. The Mandarina hops are certainly integral to carrying the authentic "juiced citrus" element here, though, for sure, and I must give the brewery a decent amount of credit for handling this pretty well. The grain bill feels like it has a good helping of nutty wheat and smooth oats, too, which definitely help the mouthfeel out. A pretty good impression of a small, new-ish brewery that I haven't paid much attention to.