Flood Relief IPA
The Alchemist

16oz can, dated 08.02.2023, poured into a 16oz tumbler glass. Enjoyed on 08.17.2023, reviewed from Tasting Journal.

The beer pours a nice hazy copper color, amber and honey hues, with a thin fizzy white head that has good retention and lacing. The aroma is pleasant, earthy, green, raw hop, lots of citrus, pine, biscuit dough, mineral water and a lingering floral quality. The flavors are good, juicy citrus, bitter pine, very dank and green, weedy, raw spicy hop, herbal, floral with soft pale grain and mineral water. The mouthfeel is good, thick, coating, heavy medium body, smooth with a creamy dry finish.

Verdict: A very nice IPA from The Alchemist. Definitely superior to the Hill Farmstead version. This reads more akin to Heady but more bitter and with more pronounced citrus quality.

This rating is for the alchemist version, not the much different hill farmstead version by the same name.

Bottom of the can says “Alchemist” and has a date of 08-02-23, so not ideal and not the freshest, but thanks to judkinst for holding a can for me for months. Flavor doesn’t seem to be diminished at all. Truly phenomenal NEIPA without being a chalky hazy mess. Has fresh hop IPA vibes but that’s just the stellar NZ hops. Bravo!

 

 

 

Look - slight haze gold nice rimming
Smell - caramel malts and citrus
Taste - citrus pine with some grain can caramel malts
Feel - medium body and carb
Overall - pretty nice classic IPA non bitter and grains

 

Side by side with HF version. Alchemist gets the slight nod. Both are excellent!

Alchemist has their house ipa flavor, think heady, maybe focal. Dank, pine, weed. Very hoppy and nice bitterness.

HF version is pretty similar but has a bit more New Zealand hop profile and some stone fruit. Floral, earthy, soft, bitterness in the finish.

 

Appearance: Pours a somewhat cloudy golden color capped by a two finger head; good retention with squiggles and clumps of lacing

Smell: Dank and piney with citrus pith and peach tones

Taste: There is a floral peach and orange blossom aspect that hits the palate, at the outset, and persists through the finish; the dankness builds, in the middle, and provides solid bitterness to the finish, as well

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate to high carbonation

Overall: The combination of the floral and the bitter is a real accomplishment that I don't think I have tasted before

 

Can purchased and drank at The Alchemist Brew Café in Stowe, VT.

This one pours slightly hazy burnt orange color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like peach, melon, marijuana, orange, and grapefruit.

This feels like a bit of a softer, more subtle Focal Banger. There’s some solid bitterness, but much less than the typical Alchemist beer, with a sweet peachy and citrusy hop character. There’s no real maltiness here.

This is light bodied, clean, crisp, and quite drinkable.

This doesn’t dethrone either Focal Banger or Heady Topper, but it’s for a great cause and it also tastes pretty great.

First review for me! Purchased from the Alchemist on a trip to Vermont. From a Can, opened 8/6. Having not tried Hill Farmstead before this is a very good IPA and for a great cause.