Fresh IIPA V21
Hubbard's Cave Brewery

16oz pounder can, date is hidden on the front. ~8months old

You shouldn't drink when depressed. Well I'm more 'absolutely crushed' than 'depressed', so a morning 10%'er may be called for, and this double ipa is what the doctor ordered. Equal parts tropical juice, herbal hop, and dark fruit from the malt. Enjoyable to pound - until the alcohol flavor shows up to the party. It's pretty noticeable, like a half-shot of rotgut was poured in.. and it's ""only"" 8.5% ABV, I've had actual 10% beers recently that had no alcohol taste whatsoever, so it was disappointing how apparent the booze is in this'n

It's okay, pretty tasty for the most part. I'm crushed and crushing

 

 

 

Poured from a tallboy can into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Hazed out golden brown pour with massive fluffy white head. Great lacing.

S: Dank and tropical... citrus and fruit.

T/F: Sweet tropical fruit... pineapple, papaya, and melon plus big time citrus. Grapefruit and tangerine... modest hop bitterness. Super drinkable... sticky on the tongue. Medium bodied.

O: Another outstanding NEIPA from Hubbard's Cave. They all taste pretty damned similar... and are all fantastic. Great beer.

Juice bomb. Cloudy murky yellow orange juice appearance. Citrusy-orange and grapefruit flavors, slight bitterness and tanginess. Mouth filling, mouth watering. One of the better ones in the series.

 

 

Pours from the can a cloudy, dirty light orange with a single-finger white head. Lots of lace.
Aroma is citrus and tropical. OJ, mango, maybe a touch of stone fruit.
Taste is juicy and tropical. Like the aroma, plus slighly bitter, pine and pith. A touch of
vegetal beneath.
Mouth is medium and smooth.

 

 

 

16 oz can poured into a Weizen glass.

Appearance
Hazed-out, cloudy blonde. Short white head.

Nose
Mango, tangerine, papaya, honey, dank, and wintergreen. Fairly light aroma.

Taste
Overripe mango, lemon, papaya, tangerine, and dank. Pine resin and wintergreen. Biscuit, caramel, and honey malts. Grapefruit and lime zest. Earthy dryness.

Mouthfeel
Full bodied, crisp, dry, sticky, and bitter.

Overall
Very flavorful, dry, and bitter. Well hidden ABV.

 

 

Appearance: Murky golden yellow with orange hue. Bone white head after pouring very hard, that settles to a thin layer across the top of the glass, while leaving some nice lacing. No visible carbonation due to too much haze.

Smell: The hops are not jumping out of this glass, but the beer has an great aroma. While there are some sweeter tropical fruit notes such as mango, I’m getting more stone fruit aromas like peach and apricot. Also some ruby red grapefruit and fresh blueberry. It has a hint of that sweet tart candy aroma that I love in some NEIPA.

Taste: There’s a familiar flavor here that I don’t love, but it doesn’t detract all that much from the overall beer. I don’t know if it’s the water or the yeast or what, but I get it sometimes in this style. It’s hard for me to describe. Perhaps chalky? I don’t know. I haven’t come up with a word to describe it. Sometimes it’s so over the top, but here it’s not. Anyhow, it is definitely a tropical fruit juice beer, but also has the stone fruit flavor profile. Some sweet peach juice. The finish has low bitterness on it, as opposed to none, which helps the beer out for me.

Mouthfeel: On the lighter side. Sometimes this style can be a bit heavy, especially at this ABV, but this beer is not. Light on the palate.

Overall: Highly drinkable. You’d never know this beer is 8.5%. Never. Nice tropical and stone fruit juicyness. A nice representation of the style with a familiar flavor that I don’t love. But overall a very good beer.

 

Tasted in a Rastal Teku from a one pint can on October 2, 2018. Fresh By 11.26.18. Brewed with Citra, Enigma and Rakau hops. Notes of pine and tropical fruit.