Pillow Hat
Hudson Valley Brewery

 

 

No canning date. Can to wine glass.

Look: Pours a hazy light yellow with a fluffy white head that dissipates rather quickly leaving quite a bit of lacing. No floaters.

Smell: Citrusy and lightly tropical. Fresh and hoppy.

Taste: Light notes of pineapple, lemon and white grapes. Grassy and green. Slightly bitter finish, slightly zesty.

Feel: Very crushable without being too light and watery. Medium carbonation.

Overall: Considering its very low ABV, this is a nice and flavorful beer. Needless to say, it can't quite take it up with IPAs with twice as much ABV, but there's probably no need to compare. It's a welcome change from all the heavy hitters and I would definitely drink it again.

**
09/02/21

can to snifter. my first from Hudson Valley Brewing.

LOOK: light yellow color, a touch of pulpy haze. Big white frothy head.

AROMA: very light. mostly pilsner-ish malt and veggie, but slight hint of citrus an pine.

TASTE: a lot of flavor for only 4% ABV. Pine and woody notes for sure, but they are so much softer than normal. Citrus and melon see to sneak in late and quench the resin away. Some light cracker-y malt also.

FEEL: light body, good carbonation, pillowy soft mouthfeel (I'm guessing that's where they got the name) and very smooth.

Very nice. Not a super star, but very well crafted for how simple it is. Probably a great gateway craft beer to turn on a non-craft beer drinker.

**

Spring 2021 can dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin, from the brewery in Beacon, NY. Pours a medium hazy bright yellow gold with a finger of rocky white head, nice lacing, smell is musty peach skin, peach rings, hints of white grape, spice, and mint, taste follows the nose with white peach flesh, peach rings, white grape must, gooseberry, mild grapefruit pith finish, feel is light bodied, creamy, carbonic bite finish. A scrumptious platform on which to display to pure delight that is Nelson Sauvin. Yam slices.

A version dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin.
Canned 4/8/21 . Let warm for 10 minutes or so, before opening.

Moderately hazy light yellow with one finger of fairly long-lasting white head.

Smell is pineapple, Galia melon,including the slightly spicy part, white grape, and grapefruit.

Taste is more-or-less the same as the aroma, but drier, and the grapefruit more prominent, and the pineapple less so. Moderate bitterness. Some grapefruit pith lingers as the other flavors fade out.

Feel is light, but not watery, with moderate, very,very,very fine, sharp carbonation burn/bite. So fine (but noticeable) is the carbonation, that I imagine it being the experience of reaching infinity. :) [Not sure that makes sense, but it is the visualization that happens while drinking it. ;) ] Outstanding feel, especially for a 4% IPA.

Overall, very enjoyable , & hoping for more in the hot weather of summer. If I didn't know it was 4% , I would have guessed 5.5-6.25 % .

 

 

 

Hudson Valley Brewery "Pillow Hat"
16 fl. oz. can coded "DRINK NOW".

Notes via stream of consciousness: So how strong is this "Little IPA"? And has the government given up on making breweries write out India pale ale on their labels? Great design on the label otherwise. It's poured a murky golden-khaki colored body beneath a standard sized head of white foam. There are plenty of tiny bubbles in there, some bigger ones as well, and it seems to be holding up quite nicely. Where it has dropped there's lacing left behind so I'm assuming that'll continue throughout the glass. The aroma offers up hop resins, grainy malt, and distant fruit. Let's see if the taste is a bit fuller... and... it is but not by much. I get the grainy malt, which is only lightly sweet, and the somewhat piney and woody hop resins along with a little bit of a white grape, apple-like, and muted tropical fruitiness. I'm thinking passion fruit, pineapple, and a touch of lime on the tropical side but it's not really that clear. It basically tastes exactly as it smells expect that the fruitiness from the hops is fuller. Being a little IPA I guess that's OK, and I certainly wouldn't turn this down, especially if it was a pint during the day. It's got a firm bitterness to it and it finishes dry. Overall it's really quite nicely balanced. In the mouth it's light-medium in body but it feels a little fuller because of all of the extra proteins, and those also leave it a bit silky despite a fine-bubbled, effervescent carbonation. So what to say about this? It's interesting because it's, at least for me, the first hazy "session IPA" I've ever come across. Worth trying.
Review #7,160

A: The beer is hazy light pale yellow in color. It poured with a short white head that died down, leaving a thin layer of bubbles covering the surface and some lacing down the sides of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of limes and gooseberries are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell and has additional notes of stone fruit. Little to no bitterness is percpeptible.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied and slightly crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This IPA is very easy to drink and is rather flavorful for something that is only 4% abv.

Serving type: can

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 oz can from corm44 in the Newbie BIF. Dated 9/12/18. Poured into Tallgrass Globe Snifter. Gusher can.

Light pineapple juice colored body with a fluffy but wide bubbly head of 3 fingers. Lacing is left in detached specks on the sides as the head recedes.

Aroma is of strong mango and hay. Almost like a mango Saison. It's got a slight peach-o ring aroma from it too.

Flavor starts off like a witbier, with some heavy wheat suggestions, then peach skin and slight mango. It has the general vibe of peach yogurt, but definitely not creamy or milky in any way. Finish is fruity and more of that peach/mango vibe.

Feel is heavily carbonated, very painful in the mouth and belly, it was definitely overcarbonated or sat too long/improperly stored. Maybe all three. Beyond that there's no resins, no warming alcohol, light to medium bodied. Buzzing finish.

Overall an tasty if somewhat marginal NE Session IPA. Recommended if you like Mangoes and Witbiers.

 

 

 

 

Average compared to other offering at brewery

This is a great session IPA. Mild and subtle, but still packs a lot of flavor into a low ABV, mostly on the finish.

 

Crowler from the source.

This one pours a light and very hazy straw yellow color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like grapefruit, tangerine, and mango, with a light zesty and herbal aromatic backbone.

This feels super light while also being simultaneously very flavorful, with a floral and grassy bitterness, sweet juicy tangerine, dry grapefruit, and a hint of mango.

This is much more full bodied than the typical session IPA I've had, with a fluffy and creamy mouthfeel, and a very high level of drinkability.

Session IPAs are usually one of my least favorite styles, as they tend to just feel like watered down bitter messes. This breaks that trend for me, as it's really quite excellent.

 

 

 

 

On tap at Haymaker, NYC: Looks good, smells alright but lighter than expected which I should have figured since it’s a session IPA. Zero sour aspect and pretty basic overall, but still an enjoyable offering.

 

 

 

 

 

Hazy corn milk yellow with a thin film.

Smell is straw, vanilla, lemon bar and cream.

The tangy and crisp light body brings flavors of spicy eucalyptus as well as that lemon and straw with biscuit and shortbread, assisted by a medium firm fizz, but finishing super dry.

Poured from a 16oz crowler into a speiglau IPA glass.

Look is a hazy orange with a inch thick head.

Aroma is pithy tangerine and mango.

Taste is remarkably full for a session IPA. So many different tropical fruits come through it honestly tastes like a fruit drink, you might forget it's beer. Considering at 4% abv that might not be a bad thing.