Solar Fluctuation
Equilibrium Brewery

Solar FluctuationSolar Fluctuation
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From:
Equilibrium Brewery
 
New York, United States
Style:
New England IPA
ABV:
8.5%
Score:
91
Avg:
4.16 | pDev: 5.29%
Reviews:
8
Ratings:
21
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 24, 2021
Added:
Sep 22, 2019
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
Solar Fluctuation starts off a big dose of flaked oats and wheat for a creamy body. Citra and Idaho 7 went into the whirlpool before a dry hop of Citra, Sultana, and Rakau. Hazy yellow with aromas of passionfruit, pineapple and melon lead into flavors of bright citrus, passionfruit, cantoluope and Anjou pear. These fruit flavors lead up to our #EQjuice medley and morph into a creamy mouthfeel and soft bitterness on finish.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by ntanner83:
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Rated by ntanner83 from Massachusetts

3.7/5  rDev -11.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Apr 17, 2021
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.27 by RollDamnTide from Florida

Nov 24, 2021
 
Rated: 4.5 by The_Beer_Guru from New York

Oct 25, 2021
 
Rated: 4.25 by paulish from New York

Oct 19, 2021
 
Rated: 4.17 by sjones5045 from Pennsylvania

Oct 11, 2021
Photo of gatornation
Reviewed by gatornation from Arizona

3.78/5  rDev -9.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Pours a hazy golden color with a good head and fresh lacing, very nice. Smell is dank ,herbal and malty. Taste has citru,melon, herbal grassy notes some vanilla/caramel in finish. Mouth feel is soft and sweet with hops ,ABV not noticed. Had a sweet malty finish. Not my jam on this one.
Sep 28, 2021
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

3.92/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Another beer from the March 2021 order.

Pours a dullard yellow and hazy but not that viscous hazy that is sometimes good. Big head generation at 3/4," white in color. The aroma hits the Citra, and it hits it harder than all the other lesser known hops combined. Orange, tangerine and lychee with a light cantaloupe hit.

Taste is pretty good. Still clocking in the Citra in a big way, light bitterness I think courtesy of Idaho 7. Tiny dankster effet from Rakau, its pretty mild as far as hops "that come from-uh land down under, where women play and men plunder." Great mouthfeel on this one, no burn or nuthin' just a light creaminess that makes 8.5% crushable AF. All the EQ beers were pretty good. Light nectarine or stone fruit impression on the backend. Doesn't get that trubby gloop glop feel lesser hazies do.

They did really good with this one. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it is a very solid wheel much less when you consider it was shipped almost 3,000 miles to me and still kicked ass.
Sep 02, 2021
Photo of q33jeff
Reviewed by q33jeff from New Jersey

3.76/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
**
06/08/21

Can to snifter.


Look: light Yellow colour, very hazy , big creamy looking eggshellhead . Heavy legs on the glass.

Aroma: Grapefruit, light general citrus, hint of coconut or Palm. Maybe lemongrass..

Taste: Pineapple Grapefruit mango Ginger grass.

Feel: Very creamy, pretty smooth , medium body , carries the 8.5 ABV very well.

Solid.
**
Jun 09, 2021
 
Rated: 4.12 by BarrelAgedG from California

May 09, 2021
 
Rated: 4.02 by Knapp85 from Pennsylvania

May 02, 2021
Photo of Bluecrow
Reviewed by Bluecrow from New York

4.24/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
-densely cloudy can pour with a 2 cm cap of fine foam and aroma of apricots and grapefruit. The is some prickliness from the hops.
The flavor is largely of plums, tangerine and some tropical fruit. The brew is not sweet. The hop bitterness is moderate, but muted.
The mouthfeel is exceptionally smooth.
This is a tasty, soft , flavorful NEDIPA
Apr 24, 2021
Photo of ichorNet
Reviewed by ichorNet from Massachusetts

4.35/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Always good to have a new EQ DIPA in my glass. This one is Solar Fluctuation, which features Citra, Idaho 7, Sultana, and Rakau hops at varying times in the brewing process.

The pour here is pretty similar to other Equilibrium IPAs. That is to say... it's a hazy, murky son-of-a-gun with a chalky, deep-orange color to it. Low saturation to the body here, though it is topped off with a generous head that retains for quite a while. Initially, I got about a finger-and-a-half of foamy suds bearing a bone-white color, which quickly settled to a quarter-finger of retentive foam with a really solid lace-show that appeared as soon as that collar vanished. Nice legs here, too, I must say. Another attractive EQ IPA in the bag.

The nose is straight Rakau, and I barely get anything else in all honesty. Sure, Idaho 7 and Rakau are similar in myrcene content, which has them express some pretty similar scent components of spice and stone fruit, but I always associate Rakau more heavily with melon and apricot (and usually think of I7 as more tannic with hints of nectarine, for the record). This is insanely stone fruit forward, with a ridiculously prominent peach/apricot element that also carries some other drupe fruit notes including some strong plum aspects and even a bit of nuttiness. So much dark stone fruit with some auxiliary tropical mango-like notes here. Crazy complex and very intriguing.

Way more tropical flavors on the palate, which is a cool switch that I'm not sure I really expected. EQ is good at throwing me off in this way, though, and I think they're one of the few NEIPA-centric breweries that does so consistently, which I respect. Granted, I'm not always super in-love with what they end up doing, but they do throw me for a loop at times. Here, I was expecting strong stone fruit on the tongue, and instead got bright citrus and pineapple. Sultana does some good work here with help from Citra (and maybe I7 but who knows) to bring out a refreshing pineapple/tangelo mid-palate. The finish is grassy and lightly resinous with a bit more lingering bitterness than I typically associate with EQ juice-bombs. Liking this one a lot. Had me a bit confused at first, but it's growing on me. Feel is superb; slick and oily, but balanced with good drinkability and a fair and even-handed carbonation. Not too heavy given the ABV, but definitely not a small beer... SF is one of the best beers I've had from these guys yet.
Apr 20, 2021
 
Rated: 4.37 by Boccu from New York

Apr 17, 2021
 
Rated: 4.44 by MilaMila from Massachusetts

Apr 15, 2021
 
Rated: 4.27 by GreenMind from Pennsylvania

Apr 12, 2021
 
Rated: 3.98 by SG_H44 from Korea (South)

Jan 03, 2021
 
Rated: 4.17 by RickyBfromCT from Connecticut

Nov 27, 2019
 
Rated: 4.25 by TheWolf from Delaware

Oct 20, 2019
Photo of Billolick
Reviewed by Billolick from New York

4.21/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Freshie can direct from the source.

Typical NEIPA EQ look, loads of ringed fine bubble sheeting....nice looking brew...

Ripe melon and mango sniff,

Tasty DIPA, more tropical fruit notes with again ripe melon/mango, also some fresh ginger notes...enjoyable. worthy, go get some
Oct 19, 2019
Photo of mnj21655
Reviewed by mnj21655 from Massachusetts

4.38/5  rDev +5.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Pours a super hazy orange in color with a finger of dense white head, just about the color of orange juice. Aroma is citrusy with tangerine and orange notes. Taste is also very citrusy upfront but has significant melony undertones. Medium plus body and moderate carbonation. Overall a very tasty beer that drinks well.
Oct 09, 2019
Solar Fluctuation from Equilibrium Brewery
Beer rating: 91 out of 100 with 21 ratings