Exchange Student
Trillium Brewing Company
- From:
- Trillium Brewing Company
- Massachusetts, United States
- Style:
- Imperial IPA
- ABV:
- 8.5%
- Score:
- 92
- Avg:
- 4.18 | pDev: 8.61%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 8
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Jul 14, 2019
- Added:
- Sep 21, 2018
- Wants:
- 1
- Gots:
- 8
SCORE
92
Outstanding
92
Outstanding
Collaboration with Cloudwater Brew Co.
This summer's Field Trip allowed the Trillium crew to play host family to lots of out-of-towners - among them, the creative and colorful founder of Cloudwater Brew Co: Paul Jones. To celebrate his transcontinental trip to our home, we planned a project inspired by two continents of brewing history. Exchange Student is a hybrid beer created by brewing both a traditional German-style hefeweizen and a double IPA, then blending them post-fermentation to marry the fruity esters of the Weizenbier with the juicy hop character of the IPA.
Exchange Student pours a cloudy, light orange hue and bursts with bright citrus aromas. Orange peel, lemon zest and fresh squeezed grapefruit take the lead on the palate while tropical notes of mango, pineapple and overripe melon add depth, and classic Weizenbier notes of ripe banana and vanilla add complexity. Exchange Student has a medium body with mild, freshly baked bready sweetness that is balanced out by a pleasant and snappy bite on the finish.
MALT: White Wheat, Pilsner Malt, Flaked Wheat
HOPS: Citra, Galaxy
This summer's Field Trip allowed the Trillium crew to play host family to lots of out-of-towners - among them, the creative and colorful founder of Cloudwater Brew Co: Paul Jones. To celebrate his transcontinental trip to our home, we planned a project inspired by two continents of brewing history. Exchange Student is a hybrid beer created by brewing both a traditional German-style hefeweizen and a double IPA, then blending them post-fermentation to marry the fruity esters of the Weizenbier with the juicy hop character of the IPA.
Exchange Student pours a cloudy, light orange hue and bursts with bright citrus aromas. Orange peel, lemon zest and fresh squeezed grapefruit take the lead on the palate while tropical notes of mango, pineapple and overripe melon add depth, and classic Weizenbier notes of ripe banana and vanilla add complexity. Exchange Student has a medium body with mild, freshly baked bready sweetness that is balanced out by a pleasant and snappy bite on the finish.
MALT: White Wheat, Pilsner Malt, Flaked Wheat
HOPS: Citra, Galaxy
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by KenStar from New Jersey
4.69/5 rDev +12.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.69/5 rDev +12.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
This exchange student over-stayed his visa, earned an advanced degree, and killed it in Massachusetts and America! Keep it coming guys. On my next trip to Boston, I hope to stop by to see the brewery and will hope that you have a company store with samples! This beer was sampled at the same time I enjoyed Heady Topper. I would put this one in the same conversation.
Jul 14, 2019
Reviewed by MaltsOfGlory from Oregon
3.65/5 rDev -12.7%
look: 2 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.65/5 rDev -12.7%
look: 2 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
16oz can
Pours a pretty weak half finger of soapy head into my willi becher glass, dissipates quickly. Body looks like orange juice. Initial lacing looks poor. Pretty below the bar for being an IPA/Hef hybrid, two styles that have decent, and in a hefs case, great head retention.
With the nose idk, it smells good, just doesn’t smell like either of these styles, let alone beer. It smells like juice, I know it’s a NE but still. A German hef has a pretty specific set of esters, this doesn’t really bring any of them to the table, this is simply another NEIP, which already is kinda a hybrid in its own right. Mango, grapefruit, orange, some citrusy and earthy hops are all present. It still smells good, but I’m going to downgrade it for being so off style, for not smelling like beer, and for not being creative, this is very close to the Fort Point nose, but that smelled like beer.
Yeah I mean this is just so far off of what they market it as. I would also bet my life they add pineapple juice to this, it’s too damn sweet. Unfortunate to hit the epitome of milkshake IPA’s with a company I still really like, but this is too damn much. Hop oils hit the back of the throat pretty hard, wouldn’t be surprised if there was sediment in here. Again, it tastes good just like it smelled, but I can’t imagine it’s 100% beer without any additions, and it’s definitely not to style.
Carbonation is on the lower side, mouthfeel is smooth, somewhat light bodied. Hops hit the back of my throat and burn, but at least it reminds me there are hops here. Not bad.
Drinkability is good, it tastes good, goes down easy.
Appearance turned out very poor, zero lacing.
Overall a very perplexing beer, and even harder to rate. Tastes good, but not necessarily in the right ways.
Feb 13, 2019Pours a pretty weak half finger of soapy head into my willi becher glass, dissipates quickly. Body looks like orange juice. Initial lacing looks poor. Pretty below the bar for being an IPA/Hef hybrid, two styles that have decent, and in a hefs case, great head retention.
With the nose idk, it smells good, just doesn’t smell like either of these styles, let alone beer. It smells like juice, I know it’s a NE but still. A German hef has a pretty specific set of esters, this doesn’t really bring any of them to the table, this is simply another NEIP, which already is kinda a hybrid in its own right. Mango, grapefruit, orange, some citrusy and earthy hops are all present. It still smells good, but I’m going to downgrade it for being so off style, for not smelling like beer, and for not being creative, this is very close to the Fort Point nose, but that smelled like beer.
Yeah I mean this is just so far off of what they market it as. I would also bet my life they add pineapple juice to this, it’s too damn sweet. Unfortunate to hit the epitome of milkshake IPA’s with a company I still really like, but this is too damn much. Hop oils hit the back of the throat pretty hard, wouldn’t be surprised if there was sediment in here. Again, it tastes good just like it smelled, but I can’t imagine it’s 100% beer without any additions, and it’s definitely not to style.
Carbonation is on the lower side, mouthfeel is smooth, somewhat light bodied. Hops hit the back of my throat and burn, but at least it reminds me there are hops here. Not bad.
Drinkability is good, it tastes good, goes down easy.
Appearance turned out very poor, zero lacing.
Overall a very perplexing beer, and even harder to rate. Tastes good, but not necessarily in the right ways.
Reviewed by GreesyFizeek from New York
3.29/5 rDev -21.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
3.29/5 rDev -21.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
This one pours a super murky and unappetizing looking milky yellow color, with a decent sized fluffy head, and lots of lacing/.
I don't honestly get much of the hefeweizen side of things in the aroma- I get oats, with creamy pineapple, grapefruit, and what kind of smells like old flour. This is super muddled and not entirely appealing.
I absolutely love Trillium, but this is a misstep for them. It's just so muddled. The hefeweizen just has this overly thick rotten banana flavor, and there's too much bready sweetness. The hop character has potential, but it's kind of muddled, with no bitterness to cut through the fog.
This is medium bodied, chewy and somewhat hard to drink, with a typical level of carbonation.
I did not love this one. It's the first Trillium I have not been about in a while now.
Oct 24, 2018I don't honestly get much of the hefeweizen side of things in the aroma- I get oats, with creamy pineapple, grapefruit, and what kind of smells like old flour. This is super muddled and not entirely appealing.
I absolutely love Trillium, but this is a misstep for them. It's just so muddled. The hefeweizen just has this overly thick rotten banana flavor, and there's too much bready sweetness. The hop character has potential, but it's kind of muddled, with no bitterness to cut through the fog.
This is medium bodied, chewy and somewhat hard to drink, with a typical level of carbonation.
I did not love this one. It's the first Trillium I have not been about in a while now.
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