Neon Gleam
Brewery Ommegang

A - Opaque light medium golden orange with thin dense lacing.

S - Yeasty tropical fruit aroma with a shot of lime and tangerine.

T - Yeast is up front and center followed with light tangerine, lime, and some citrus.

M - Pillowy soft body with very gentle carbonation.

O - IPA meets Belgian yeastiness.

 

 

A 16-oz can from Total Wine and More in Short Pump, VA, the ale poured an opaque light amber with a sudsy white head and limited lacing. The aroma of tangerine and tropical fruit is easily detected. The flavors are more complex. The hop blend is impressive with bitterness being mild and fruity. The ale has a medium body and soft-average carbonation.

16oz can. Poured out a cloudy, golden orange color with a small, tan head of foam. It left sudsy lacing. It smelled of pineapple, grapefruit, orange and caramel. Sweet tropical fruit taste with toasted caramel and a piney bitterness.

Poured into a wide mouth grip shaped goblet: color is murky, hazy straw gold, head is off-white with fine bubbles and presents one-plus finger thick, head lingers with a frothy top and laces the glass sides well.

Smell is dry mixed light tropicals with prominent notes of pineapple, lemon pith, mixed wheat and barley malt, hennepin like dryness and a light spice note.

Taste is similar with dry IPA taste of light mixed tropicals, lemon pith, pale malt and wheat, dry yeastiness; limited spicy character with a more yeasty/pithy flavor.

Mouthfeel is low/moderate carbonation, moderate sweetness, then low/moderate bitterness with a drying finish.

Overall a dry, pithy Belgian-like IPA on the hazy side to back sweeten.

 

Picked this up a few months ago at ShopRite Liquors in Little Falls, as this looked quite intriguing. Love Other Half, as I used to go to the line share every week, and Ommegang Hennepin was one of the first craft beers that opened me up to what was out there.

This beer featured the best of both, as it was balanced, Belgian in nature, and nicely crafted from start to finish. Hazy and golden in nature, this was topped off with a thick and frothy head that complemented the liquid nicely. Lots of lemon, light citrus, farmhouse spice, and grain in the nose as the taste was just as smooth, bright, and inviting. Slick and buttery in nature, there was a nice amount of white grape, malt, and booze that emerged once this fully warmed up with a bit of white cheese and oats in the aftertaste. Full in body and mild in carbonation, this was a true hybrid beer both in terms of styles, and in the brewers that had a hand in this!

I warmed up nicely before this was done as the aftertaste was a bit like a Saison, crossed with the characteristics of a dry-hopped IPA. This had a best by date of 10/25 as it drank beautifully on this muggy night. The overall quality of this beer impressed me as I’d easily reach for this on a sunny day!

 

16 oz can ($3.40) with a 2 November 2024 BB date stamped on the bottom.

Appearance. Pale straw colored body with moderate-high haziness and a good white head.

Mouthfeel. Light body with medium-high carbonation and well hidden ABV. Drinks like a light beer.

Aroma. Nicely balanced and harmonious mix of hops and grains.

Flavor. Mild and harmonious for the style.

 

 

lots to like about this, firstly it being a collaboration with other half, who has long been in the elite class when it comes to big ipa with lots of dry hopping, but also near the top of the list of things to love about this is the fact that its someone taking the style somewhere new, these are often so derivative, its awesome to have a new belgian yeast strain worked into something like this, even though i found its belgian character to be a little odd, and quite subtle, it makes me want to try the yeast in a style more classically belgian, it seems not overwhelmed by hops here, but maybe its specific fruitiness is married in too well to really tease out, as far as i know this is my first experience with the sundew strain. it presents in aroma and flavor as estery but way short of phenolic, notes of plantain and underripe berry, along with possible white grape, and then some later spiciness, black pepper maybe, and to me almost a rustic funkiness, belgian almost more in a subtle saison sense for a second, could be off from perfect freshness but its not like oxidation really, and overall it sets up the hops really well, and id love to know more about it. the hops come with serious juiciness in this pale orange heady brew with average haziness and density, a lot lighter than some other half ipa types thats for sure, frothy and bubbly the whole way. pineapple and pink guava, green grape and floral white wine, lemon and lemon curd, verbena and white tea, jasmine and peony, taffy and cotton candy, citra, motueka, and nelson doing absolute work in the dry hop here, and even if the freshness might be falling a little, which i cant confirm on tap but suspect, its still pretty awesome. a little bit of late bitterness, the yeast more curious as it warms, less clean belgian more old farmy, but the fruitiness is there and its way cool with this mix and dosage of hops. soft on the grain side, fuller feeling but creamy and quick later on, bright carbonation really helps keep it moving, and its rather dry overall even though some hop oils linger on the palate. it definitely seems like a neat fusion of what these guys do best, big hops for other half and authentic belgian styles for ommegang, although they have gotten away from some of that in recent years. i love the outside the box approach to a style that has lost a lot of that, and its not just weird ideas and ingredients, the resulting beer is actually very original too. one of the best things ive had in ages to bear the ommegang name, and it was cool to have it on draft. very enjoyable brew, neat collaboration, more like this please! also in search of more beers with sundew, i have a lot to learn!

 

 

Hazy, amber color, good dense head with lots of lace cling.
Aroma is citrus over malt - sweet to the nose.
Flavor is sweet malt up front, good heft on the tongue and less mid boil hops than most NE pale ales.
Body is heavy for style but satisfying and rich in malt character.
Finish is all citrus hop acid.

 

 

This appears to be a hazy IPA. Cloudy orange in color. White head that quickly fades. Nose is citrus like tangerine with a hint of pineapple. Taste is sweet like a mango with a white pepperish finish. Good beer

Pours a hazy light orange with a 1F head and moderate lacing.

Smells of lightly piney hoppy with citrus and mango.

Tastes of lightly bitter grapefruit, orange and mango with a lingering lightly bitter alcohol warm finish.

Medium light body with light carbonation. Oaty smooth mouthfeel.

This is a nice brew that is juicy up front and lightly bitter at the end.