Ben Is Dead
Root + Branch Brewing

 

**
07/17/25

Crowler (from Ham BuyRite) to snifter.

LOOK: hazy and thick, yellow color, medium off white head which is really creamy, excellent retention.

AROMA: lychee, peach, citrus, grass,

TASTE: pineapple, peach, tangerine, rye grains come in later and cut the fruity flavors nicely. I get some light marshmallow late. Maybe some shortbread or biscuit. Super tasty.

FEEL: super smooth, medium body, so easy drinking...I think the marshmallow I taste is more a deception from light airy character of this. Especially after having just poured a little more or jostled the snifter.

This is incredibly enjoyable and easy drinking. The 32 oz. is going to be consumed in a dangerously quick fashion. I am purposely slowing myself to get the notes down. Fantabulous! (to borrow an adjective from Van Morrison).

**

Hazy yellow pour, modest white head. Clean citrus nose. Pulpy oat-based texture gave the beer kind of a chunky vibe. Ben brings the fruit, more on the bitter citrus side--largely lime, orange rind, bit of pineapple, with an underlying earthy hint of grass. More solid than spectacular.

 

Very similar offering to the previous two RB I had. Same colour, very similar aroma and taste. Fresh Citrus, touch of lime, astringent and grassy bitterness that lingers. Good, but I don't get the hype for this brewery.

Haze so thick it's almost green. Nose is tropical lemon and lime. Taste is calamansi, candied grapefruit, mango, and lime. Thick, creamy mouthfeel. Astringent, mouth-drying, citrus rind bitterness. Effing delicious.

A 1 pint can, canned on 3rd May 2023, poured into a winebar glass.

Appearance: A hazy milky pale yellow colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention, while leaving nice lacing.

Aroma: Citrusy, grapefruit, orange rind, lemon zest, with light notes of tropical guava and mango.

Taste: Light sweet notes, grapefruit pith and rind, lime zest, melon, mango, pineapple, with a lasting bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

Overall: An easy drinking NEDIPA with great aromas and flavours.

 

Canned on 5/3/23; consumed on 6/7/23

Pours a turbid, pale off-gold body capped with a finger and a half of creamy, slightly off-white foam; decent head retention leaves a paper-thin cap, a moderate, fluffy collar, and myriad sudsy, webby/spotty lacing spattered across the walls of the glass.

Aromas bring cream of wheat, grapefruit zest, and strawberry esters upfront, with mushy guava residuals meeting sweet mango in the distance as a hint of potent, waxy white grape and tinges of musty honey linger along a sweaty hop undercurrent.

Taste offers lime Pixie Stix and mushy strawberry esters alongside soft cream of wheat in the backdrop; grapefruit peel on the mid-palate leads to musty mango and shreds of dank white grape on the finish.

Mouthfeel shows a moderate-light body and a fluffy, moderate-high carbonation, with prevailing juiciness fading to pseudo-bitterness through the mid-palate as a subtle, hoppy twang supports a taut, largely clean finish.

Eclectic and zesty while contrastingly boggy yet bright, this NEDIPA produces a uniquely varied array of character in flux with a quintessentially soft R+B body; an excellent offering in the style.