Bearfence
Basic City Beer Company

 

12oz can from gift store at Sky Land, plastic hotel cup, canned 5/29/24.

Definitely a hazy. Dull, hazy yellow with a nice papyrus head.

Mango, tropical fruits, juicy white wine, oats. It suffers from one of the fatal flaws of NEIPA, considerable, and not complimentary, alcohol.

Very soft mouthfeel with light carbonation. The carbonation just doesn’t help the flavors pop at all.

Ok hazy IPA.

From the bottom rim of the can: "3/24/21"

Appearance: The body is a milky beige color making it look like a pale manilla envelope. It is almost completely opaque, allowing only a hint of shadow through the glass at the edges. There is a very short white head that fades quickly to a ring. No retention or lacing.

Aroma: The aroma is extremely faint but what little of it comes through is a pleasant mixture of peach and mango.

Taste: A very light bit of grapefruit and some mango come through up front, followed by a light bit of pine. The flavors are consistent throughout the drinking experience, including the aftertaste which is a bit more pine-forward but has remnants of grapefruit and mango. At times a grain flour flavor came through

Mouthfeel: The body feels medium and smooth with medium-light carbonation and low bitterness.

Overall: The beer drinks more like a New England Double IPA than anything. The aroma is good but barely noticeable in the glass. The flavors are good as well. The beer as a whole feels like it is missing a defining character to make it cohesive. It's worth picking up to try it if you run across it but I wouldn't likely buy it regularly.

Almost fully opaque burnt gold with bright white foam head that's dense and of moderate height leaving curtains of lace and some spots on the glass with a tilt.

I can feel a little of that extra booze--mostly in the head and ears, and not so much in flavor--relative to the Big Meadows IPA, but otherwise am finding nothing of critical concern here. There is some evergreen cologne and herbal juniper, which pair with tropical fruits like mango flesh and skin, as well as some semi-bitter citrus rinds.

The medium body is filled and softly rounded out by a perfectly cloud-like carbonation before coming to a just dry finish.

Another surprisingly nice brew found in a national park cooler.

Had this from a can purchased from the Big Meadows Wayside convenience store in the Shenandoah National Park. About 3.5 a can there. Worth the money under the circumstances but in a grocery store it better be cheaper.
That said this is a worthy entrant into the burgeoning microbrewery scene in the Blue Ridge Mountains from Asheville north. I’d buy a 6 pack at 9.99 or less