IPA No. 2
Eight & Sand Beer Co.

Canned on 12/5/2022. Poured into a shaker glass. It pours a hazy, honey-orange color with a half finger of creamy, milk-white head and minimal lacing. The aroma is pleasing with notes of peach, honeydew, lemon, and cream. Its taste is bright with a nice balance of vanilla, peach, ripe melon, tropical fruit, and more tart, acidic lemon and grapefruit with just a hint of bubblegum. While not overtly bitter there is decent bite at the finish. The brewer has effectively used the tried and true hop bill of Citra and Mosaic. It's simple but effective. The mouth feel is lite and crisp with fairly lively carbonation, and the 6.2% ABV allows for very easy drinking. A second pour is not an issue. Overall, IPA No. 2 is a solid local IPA. In my view, it's not a classic NEIPA but that's nit-picking. This would be a great summertime ale - I could see drinking it regularly at the Shore if available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The can pours out a golden yellow liquid with a cloudy hue. There's a nice frothy head and noticable glass lacing. It's beautiful! There's a very juicy hop smell surrounding the emptied can and freshly filled clear glass mug. Unfortunately, the taste is really bland. Nowhere near as hoppy as some of the milder NEIPAs. This also hurts the mouth feel, because there isn't anything there to soften. Appearances can be deceiving and this one fails to follow through on its good looks.

 

 

Modest head, bright white, the surface dimpled by a scattering of large bubbles, long if wispy lacing. Light haze to the golden straw color, the bubbles come close to forming beads without doing so. Fresh herbaceousness in the nose, some resin and tar but wouldn’t call it dank per se, hint of melon to the apricot, peach fruit scent base, a little peppery as well as lemony snap, more about integration than overwhelming your senses. Between medium to light-bodied, the mouth entry benefits from a tightly woven carbonated prickle. More cracker, scone notes here, softer white citrus presence. Little bit of papaya, mango but it would be a stretch to consider it tropical, fruity enough without that qualifier. The grassiness strongest through the finish and especially retronasally. Again, fresh and crushable. Like it. (Canned 5/7/20)