Ten Seconds To MidNight
Mast Landing Brewing Company

 

Pours a murky darkish gold color with a robust three finger soapy off-white head that leaves great ring lacing.

Aroma is only moderately strong with some dainty pineapple and lemon notes

The taste seems a bit muddled to me. Up front there is a kind of harsh hit of sweet hops and malt - not the most enjoyable start. It mellows out so that the pineapple hops flavor can be distinguished by the finish. There is a lingering citrus flavor there too but indistinct.

The feel is soft but not too thick and creamy. There is nothing much there really for bitterness, which is fine for this beer.

All in all I will probably not reach for this one again, though I do like many beers from Mast Landing. The flavor profile is confusing and harsh up front and that is hard to get over when looking at a wall of other great alternatives on the beer racks.

Always enjoy trying new IPAs ML comes up with, even though the results can sometimes be a little unsatisfactory to me, for whatever reason. I mean, they make so many, they're bound to hit some snags here and there, right? In this sense, they kind of remind me of a slightly-bigger version of Relic out of Connecticut. When both of these breweries are on their A game, there are very few NEIPAs that can touch their stuff. Let's see where this one falls. It's brewed with Motu, Mosaic, Topaz, and Citra hops. I'm just gonna assume Motu is like a newer name for Motueka, like how 007 is a different name for Idaho 7, or Ekuanot acts that way for Equinox. By the way, I'm not sure why this happens, but whatever.

Pours a hazy, just-shy-of-opaque dingy golden/orange color with a long-lasting sheet of retentive white foam sitting on top of the body of the beer like a blanket. Nice drippy lace patterns and pretty good legs here, for sure. When I look closely, I also notice something I don't see very often these days: hop particles in suspension! Wow, maybe this isn't really a New England IPA after all, heh. The color here isn't too satisfying, and the haze is just at the point where it's nebulous what they're trying to accomplish here (I'd prefer fully opaque and all-in on turbidity or really clear at this juncture in the modernity of IPA drinking and reviewing, but whatever), but it's alright overall.

The nose here leads off with some musky tropical fruit and melon notes, followed up by deep citrus (lime and tangerine) overtones with a slight pungent pine resin aspect coming out somewhat strong behind these initial suggestions. There is kind of a lot to unpack here, actually. Mosaic + Topaz is a cool combination, for sure... the dankness of the former with its anonymous berry and fruit elements combines well with Topaz's penchant for spice, grassy, and lighter fruit salad-like notes. Definitely some bubble gum/fruit gum esters here, with more melon, mango, and starfruit/passion fruit tropicalness. Quite glad this doesn't overdo the Mosaic, though, that's for sure.

Punchy resin right up front melds quickly into softer tones of tropical fruit and spice with some herbal grassiness following everything up. Soft and smooth feel with (probably) a lot of oats, producing a nice, swelling sensation throughout drinking my glass. It's a bit lost on the tongue, but I can pick up melon, light strawberry, tangerine, orange, key lime, and passion fruit with some undercurrents of papaya and mango. A somewhat heavier-than-expected body for a 6.6% beer, but it doesn't have any ethanol burn or anything, so I can't complain on that front.

Overall, this is easy-enough to drink and has some good elements, for sure, but it kinda falls into the same category as beers like Coasting, Saccarappa, and Neon Sails for me. As I said, I'm always glad to check up on these guys' IPAs, but I never feel compelled to give them the money for a whole four-pack without first checking on the individual quality of each beer they make in these styles. Sometimes this backfires, like with stuff like Mainstay (which was phenomenal), or Pantless Thunder Goose (which I ran back to the store for a four-pack of the day after I quaffed my single can purchase), but I still feel strongly that this brewery could stand to be more consistent.

Bottom of can reads: 12/26/18 Happy New Year.
Look is hazy pineapple juice
Taste is cantaloupe and melon
Smell is melon cantaloupe
Feel is smooth and medium bodied
Overall this is a phenomenal beer! Loved every sip of it!