Fort Point Pale Ale - Nelson Double Dry Hopped
Trillium Brewing Company

 

Can poured into a Mountain Rambler Brewery pint glass

A: Pours hazy golden amber with a frothy off white head that settles to a light layer and laces nicely.

S: Classic Nelson white grape, tropical and stone fruit, ripe citrus, slight spicy grassy herbal notes, a bit floral, biscuity malt, and caramel sweetness.

T: Tropical and exotic fruit, classic gooseberry, plus pineapple, slightly underripe mango, guava, apricot, peach, white grape, and passion fruit, citrus, tangerine, grapefruit, and lemon lime, a bit resinous, slight grassy herbal notes, floral, biscuity malt, and caramel sweetness.

M: Just a touch on the lighter side of medium body, moderately lively carbonation, soft on the palate.

O: It feels a little wrong trying a variant before the original, but this is what happened to show up at my bottle shop out of the blue, so I snapped it up.
Really nicely done beer. You get all the classic Nelson goodness, but that counter punch of Columbus adds just the right complimentary balance and depth.

Basic, flavorful and at the roots for everything else that they do, Trillium does the haze as well as anyone else, and their pale ale is always on point. With the additional double dry hopping regimen of Nelson Sauvin hops and this beer takes on a new, and nearly winey, life.

So the Double Dry-Hop version of Fort Point kicks off with a similarly rich and milky taupe pour as its original recipe, and also carrying the same turbid silted appearance. As a lofty and foamy cap builds, a bold collection of fruity perfume garner the praise of citrus, vinous fruit, tropical fruit and melon with a vanilla-like soothing scent. Sweet on the early palate, the beer's introductory flavors are still rife with cereal, cream, starch and honeysuckle.

Then the hops simply bloom on the middle palate with the vinous and citrusy flavors popping with tangerine, white grape, white grapefruit and lemon. Following up, the tropical flavors of pineapple, papaya and passionfruit add an exotic tanginess to lead into an herbal finish of verbena, green tea, sassafras, lemon pepper and spruce with a juiciness of honeydew and winey spice to keep everything together.

Medium light in body, the beer dries out wonderfully for a malty-dry and slightly tart finish that sides with dryness only slightly. A minty fresh finish is highlighted by a gentle and smoothly bitter hop finish with a gentle aftertaste of grape skins.

 

 

Balanced and drinkable. The Nelson comes through in a solid pale ale. Can't hold up to IPAs and DIPAs but I appreciate the lower ABV. Why can't they make super flavor without so much alcohol?

Poured on 5/4/2022 from a 16oz can that was purchased at the brewery on 5/1/2022 into a tulip glass.

A: The beer is a hazy deep gold color, with a large white head that fades slowly and leaves a thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains strong floral and dank hops, juicy citrus and tropical fruits and light caramelized malts.

T: The taste likewise starts out with a nice strong burst of floral and dank hops bitterness that is quickly followed by juicy and sweet flavors of citrus and tropical fruits. The malt character is on the light side and brings an excellent balance. The after-taste is hoppy and slightly sweet.

M: Very crisp and very smooth, light-to-medium body, medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: Very tasty, goes down extremely easily, not too filling, good kick, very good representation of style, this is an excellent NE-style hop bomb to pound down for a very long time.

 

 

A- The tallboy pours into a gueuze glass with a cloudy golden orange body. The beer resembles a juice of some sort in appearance besides the fluffy two finger cap that has nice retention. Sheets of lacing decorate the glass.

S- Juicy and dank aroma that captures soft stone fruits as well as the signature zest of Nelson, big time. Pineapple juice, dank weed, melon, grape, mango and onion. A touch of softer citrus like tangerine and clementine comes to mind. Hints of pale grains.

T- Moves a bit away from the juicy fruits and more towards the zesty and spicy intensity of the Nelson on the palate. Massive waves of dank weed, green onion, grapes, clementine zest and pineapple. A touch of whole grains, lime and a light sweetness.

MF- Light to medium bodied brew that has some decent heft to it in terms of texture. The beer takes on a foamy and creamy smoothness with a very high level of carbonation. Ends dry with a spicy bitterness.

Dank and fruity Pale Ale that, at least in this particular batch, really shows off what Nelson is all about.

 

 

 

 

Poured from a can dated 3/23/21 into a tulip glass.

L = hazy yellow, decent fluffy white head and lacing/retention on the glass
S = white grape, citrus zest, kiwi
T = more white grape, kiwi, nice light aftertaste
F = light, wet
O = pretty good version of Fort Point, but not my favorite. I did enjoy the Nelson hops being on display, which I feel like I don’t see around very often