Roam: HBC 692
Fox Farm Brewery

[IMG] Poured into a 16 oz Flying Goose Snulip caned on 12/31/19. Pours a very hazy orange with a finger plus sticky slightly off white head that leaves be thick streaks of lace with very impressive retention. 4.5

Smell funny but I am getting orange starburst, cantaloupe, mango, pineapple, and apricot, really nice. 4.5

Taste follows I get can’t get the orange starburst out of my mind, ripe melon, pineapple, mango, and apricot really impressive how much flavor for only 5.7%. 4.75

Mouthfeel is bigger than medium, soft gentle carbonation, sticky not dry, and for its ABV drinks more like 7% and that is really impressive. 5

Overall this is an amazing NEAPA. Normally I am not dazzled with anything less than 6% and this one has a wow factor for such a sessionable beer. 4.5

 

 

 

Big thanks to Jake for this and many others!

Pint can - dated 12/31/19 - poured into a tulip at 46F.

Pours a hazy raw honey golden hue with a touch of translucency, topped with a finger of creamy foam, which leaves sticky meringue-like lacing as it settles. No visible effervescence.

Nose: Without digging in too deeply, there's some light pale malt and clean ale yeast, typical of the style, but as soon as you get your nose in, those hops have a lot to say. HBC 692 is a hop varietal I am entirely unfamiliar with, but wow are they unique. Of given this blind, I would instantly know this was not an everyday hop. The amount of Meyer lemon peel is almost cartoonish. Hops lend aromas and flavours that loosely mimic other things, but this might as well have been brewed with Meyer lemon peel. There's a pretty substantial lime note, and some fresh green herbaceous tones (think fresh cilantro and cut leaves). If you really take it in, there's a faint toasted sesame oil aroma as well. Absolutely unique. Not terribly complex, with bouquets of fruit and flowers, but such a pungent realistic lemon rind note.

Palate: The beer greets the palate with a forceful delivery of fresh green herbaceous flavors. Tons of grass, vague fresh herbs, starfruit, Meyer lemon, pithy lime, cilantro, kiwi, lemongrass, and white grape, with a hint of horned melon. This actually is what I would imagine a hybrid of Mosaic and Nelson would taste like. Very green, herbaceous, fresh, and plenty of lemon-lime citrus notes. There's something about it that is bith familiar and completely alien at the same time. Oddly enough, the pale malt sweetness is in the background. Generally, these types of modern hoppy beers open with the nakt sweetness, and then the hops come in and push it out of focus. Here, the hops lead the assault, and then this undercurrent of light crackery malt runs beneath the hops before surfacing in the finish. It doesn't lend much sweetness, which is often a positive attribute in a pale ale. It reaches its peak in the finish just as the hops take on a gentle lemon pithy bitterness, which never actually manages to become bitter. This somewhat backwards progression and leveling out in the finish gives this beer a very cohesive feeling. As if it has been meticulously choreographed.

Mouthfeel/Body: The beer is medium-light bodied. This is the one category that hints at this truly being a pale ale. It's crisp, fluid, and drinkable, with a loose, lively effervescence. Fairly dry, with plenty of pith lending further drying qualities in the finish. Certainly one that isn't going to make you feel as though you just swallowed liquid lead. Bright and refreshing.

Overall: Many hopy beers can be difficult to distinguish from each other these days, with the hops and malts often having little significant variations from IPA to IPA. This one definitely doesn't play by the popular rules. Green, grassy, leafy notes bring a ton of familiar Mosaic flavors, while white grape, kiwi, lime, cilantro, give the impression of Nelson Sauvin. The one thing entirely unique here is the meyer lemon element. It's an unusual beer, and I personally think it does a stellar job of breaking up the monotony of tons of similar and mediocre hoppy beers. I'd love to try this Roam base beer with some other varietals, but if even if it weren't a rotational offering, this is still wonderfully unique, unusual, and incredibly crisp beer, and I think this is the kind of beer that anyone looking for something out of left field should take the time to try.

Canned on 12/31/19

Pours a faded, deeply murky golden orange body topped with two fingers of dense, soapy white head; good retention shows the head fading steadily to a few paper-thin islands of cap, a light ring of creamy froth, and a brief spatter of thinnish, webby lacing.

Aroma opens with a dank fusion of lush kiwi, fresh evergreen needles, pine sap, and mango peel all intertwined across the bouquet, with a touch of creamy pineapple sweetness in the background.

Taste shows a combination of pineapple, pine sap, and a subtle but dank, earthy herbal medley forming the crux of the profile, with creamy mango bits now lurking in the background; a fading, flaky malt presence in apparent into the finish.

Mouthfeel presents a medium-light body with appropriately moderate carbonation and an oily, softly drying texture across the palate; a light, juicy burst shows through a crisp, effortlessly bitter, and vaguely rushed finish.

The aroma in this hazy pale ale delivers in spades, but to a point where the flavor profile just can't catch up and leaves you wanting just a bit more. The beer flows as a whole, though, remaining a steady and unique easy-drinker on the verge of an elevated status.

 

 

 

Pours a pale golden yellow with a hazy clarity and a tight, creamy, quarter inch head. Nose expresses cereal malts, somewhat akin to cornflakes, followed by grassy, lemony, dank notes. Taste follows nose. Mouthfeel is light in body with a mild, pleasant acidity and a complementary carbonation. Overall, my first experience with that hops varietal. Interesting aromas but the flavors don't blow me away.

 

 

On tap at Fox Farm. Pours a hazy vibrant yellowish orange with 2 inches of frothy head. Some lacing. The aroma is sweet citrus fruits, grassy hops and some lemongrass. The taste is the sharp bite of the lemongrass followed by some lemon and lime, orange, grapefruit and melon. Grassy hop notes towards the end with some doughy malts. Lemongrass, melon and orange finish. Light to medium body with a good deal of carbonation. Bit of a dry mouthfeel.