Short Hills
Bench Brewing Company

 

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL in a pint glass. From my favourite LCBO at Tecumseh Mall in nearby Windsor. My fourth beer from the Beamsville, Ontario brewery, and second for 2025.

Pours a classic Orange yellow IPA color. A little hazy and yeasty. Not much foam.
IPA aromas of orange zest and mango juice. Taste is not bad at all and you get exactly what you expect from a 6.5% IPA.
Orange zest with pineapple juice. Some floral characteristics. Some pine as well.
Nothing special but does the trick.

 

 

 

I bought a can at the LCBO in Ontario 473ml at 6.5%.
Poured into glass with a 1 to 2 finger head hazy color Hints of pine or pine apples .
Overall it's very enjoyable to drink with a low bitterness level easy drinking.
Cheers.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours slightly cloudy or hazy gold with sediment suspended or settled to the bottom. Moderate head settles to a partial film. Good lace along the way.

Disappointingly bland, washed out in character. Weak nose with some hops, a bit of alcohol as it warms. Slightly sweet up front, slightly bitter on the back end, but not a lot of hoppy goodness or much of anything else. Bit of a let down.

Old can? Will try again.

 

Hazy light gold with a strong head. Mostly pine and a little citrus rind on the nose. Light-medium body with more pine hops and some alcohol strength

 

Pours slightly hazy blond with a smallish, short-lived head. The aroma is of tangerines, apricot, mango some cookie dough malts. Orange, mango, papaya, ginger hop notes dominate in the the taste. A bit of bready, clean pale malts in the back. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and the carbonation is on the light side. The finish is moderately bitter with lingering tropical fruit hop notes.

A nice IPA with an interesting hop profile. Complex and quaffable. Worth a try.

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Mar 13 2020 and served slightly chilled.

Pours foggy and turbid, with a pale golden-yellow coloured body that is topped with nearly an inch of soapy, foamy white head. It dissipates within five minutes or so, splattering a wavy band of lace against the glass as it is reduced to a wide, frothy collar; looks good to me. I'm getting melon, grapefruit and passion fruit on the nose, along with hints of mandarin orange, lime and wheaty pale malts.

A rock solid take on an East Coast IPA, with notes of tropical fruit such as melon, mango, pineapple and lychee coming through right off the bat, and notes of nectarine, grapefruit and orange following soon thereafter. More stone fruit, berries and mango towards the finish, with a hint of cantaloupe lingering into the aftertaste - not particularly bitter; I'd describe it more as 'juicy' if anything. Medium-full in body, with moderate carbonation levels that briskly agitate the surface of the palate, providing just a touch of crispness to this brew's generally smooth, soft mouthfeel. Fantastic drinkability, with no sign of its abv whatsoever - I wish I had another tallboy to crack open right now, which (for a beer) is as strong a compliment as any.

Final Grade: 4.22, an A-. The Bench Brewing website calls Short Hills a 'hazy IPA', mentioning both oats and Vermont yeast as ingredients, which in my books qualifies this as a New England IPA - though in all fairness, most of New England is on the east coast, so I'll refrain from crawling any further into those weeds at the moment. Suffice it to say that if you enjoy fruity/juicy IPAs, this beer is an absolute must-try - and if I were to exclude their 'Grove' series, I'd say it's the best Bench beer I've tried to date.

473 ml can served cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for $3.50 CDN or so. Canning date appears to be January 24, 2020.

Appearance - Light golden brew, plenty of haze, nearly two fingers of medium lived white head before descending into a small cap of filmy haze. Some sparse lacing at the edges.

Smell - So much peach and nectarine a touch of mango and melon in there too. Juicy and sweet. Great aromatics.

Taste - Initially juicy and fruity with peach and nectarine leading the way hints of peach pit, mango is in there too leading to a sweet brew before some more bitter grapefruit and underripe pineapple mix in. Bitterness to close although not extreme.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, carbonation is present but rather soft and delicate and a dry finish after an initial juicy burst.

Overall - Like biting into a ripe peach or nectarine initially, followed up by some more conventional flavors (grapefruit and mango). When you have to double check the ingredient list to be sure that peaches nor nectarines are there because those flavors are so well represented that is an impressive feat. Great summertime flavors and works well in the last parts of winter, promising a summer to come.