Hop Fiction Double IPA
Ever Grain Brewing Co.

Happy New Gift, Trade, Purloined (not really on the last) Beer Sunday (Week 658)! I am not doing much in the way of any of them lately as I am still CANgested with a backlog of bottles & CANs, but new beers CANtinue to come my way all the same. This beer arrived in Crowler format as a gift from one of The Friendly Greek Bottle Shop (FGBS) Drinking Team members after his recent foray to Camp Hill. It is not really a thing any more, but Camp Hill, PA was long known as HQ for the Book of the Month Club (BOMC) & now they have a brewery! I may attempt an excursion of my own in the next couple of weeks.

The Crack! was really loud & I thought that I might have snapped off the tab when I pushed it back, but such was not the case. The other difficulty that I have with crowlers is the Glug. The vent hole is set back further than on smaller CANs & when CANpled with the volume, it makes things tricky. I got it started without any problem, but when the head began to rush up, I was forced to back off & down. The end result was two-plus fingers of massive, foamy, rocky, tawny head with excellent retention. Color was a lightly-hazy Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9), but it was clarifying as I typed, leading me to believe that it was chill haze from my penguin-temperature reefer. Nose was redolent with tropical fruits & now my hophead mouth was watering unCANtrollably! Mmm. Mouthfeel was solid, well beyond medium, kind of thick & juicy in my mouth, where it just laid atop my tongue in languorous fashion. Man, it was fruity, but there was also a bite to it, as though it did not want me to forget that I am drinking an entire crowler of a DIPA by myself. In addition to the usual tropical suspects of mango & guava, especially, it also brought some grapefruit rind bitterness. Mmm. I especially liked that as it warmed, I began to also get tangerine notes. It finished fruity, but still dry, befitting of the style and its ABV. My thanks for this gift!