To Space We Go
Equilibrium Brewery

Batch 2 Canned 5/19/222. See other beer for review...

Appearance: Pours a completely hazy (less than 5% clarity) medium, but bright orange color with a massive white head. SRM of 7. (4.50)

Aroma: Strong and juicy aromas of pineapple, grapefruit citrus, with a strong and sweet green mango aroma underneath. Mostly green mango. (4.50)

Flavor: Strong flavors of green mango upfront. Some pineapple and mango flower and green notes evolve. Almost has a citrus quality, but then comes back to the sweet mango nectar. Slightly green, faintly herbal. (4.50)

Feel: Medium to heavier bodied. Moderate carbonation, but a very smooth and soft mouthfeel. Soft, silky, slightly sweet. (4.50)

Compared to BlackStack Who Put You On 8/5/22: Pours darker, hazier, with a larger head. Similar mango aromas, but more green. More green pineapple, green mango, flower and herbal notes. Less melon and papaya. Similar mango cream flavors. Similar body and sweetness as well. Overall, decently similar.

Overall: An absolute banger. The Strata and Mosaic hops are spot on here. This one has a wonderous green mango flavor. Also some pineapple, passionfruit, green grapefruit to support. The perfect amount of green to clean up the sweet mango flavor. A wonderous NEIPA as per usual from EQ. 4.5s all around. (Rating: 4.50-, personally probably a 4.40)

EQ has been decent to me lately, and most of their collaboration beers are weirdly-better than their solo ventures. This seems to be a Strata hopped DIPA, which, yeah... sounds about right for 2022. Definitely one of the more common varietals out right now, and for good reason. This is batch 2 and was canned on 5/19/22.

A: Murky and kind of gross looking, honestly. Not quite sludge, but it's definitely totally turbid. Solid, chalk-white head that retains good density even after five-to-ten minutes in my glass. Lace patterns are excellent and legs are good. Nice appearance other than the level of haze vs. the hue/saturation of the beer itself.

S: Light apricot, grapefruit, mango, and hints of dankness come out immediately. Typical (sorta) EQ melon-like esters from the yeast, and some passion fruit coming out as it acclimates to room temp. Overall decent-to-good nose, but it's nothing too special. That said, I think it does display Strata pretty well as a single-hop. But, I also think this varietal works slightly better with others, and it tends to perform a bit better in "cleaner" beer, in my opinion.

T: Better than expected, I think... good flavors of defined passion fruit and mango with some grassiness, herbals, dankness, and pomelo, along with some dusty oats. Melon is definitely here, too, but I think the mid-palate has just the right amount of "perk" to it that keeps it from being homogeneous.

M: Creamy and well-balanced. Low alcohol presence with understated carbonation. Drinks easy for its ABV, as well.

O: I think this is good stuff for EQ, though I don't have enough experience with Unseen Creatures to really know what they brought to the table. Not much to really say here... in a sense, it basically tastes like most other dime-a-dozen NEDIPAs out there these days, but I still enjoyed drinking it. Strata is here to stay, I think, but I would like to see this brewery do something unique and interesting with it to give it a more "defined" space in the current milieu of beer.

A: Pours a milky murky medium bright yellow in color with moderate amounts of fine active visible carbonation rising along the edges of the glass and moderate bright orange + pale orange + pale yellow + apricot + peach colored highlights. The beer has a four finger tall dense creamy sudsy foamy white head that slowly reduces to a large patch of very thick film covering a little more than 75% of the surface of the beer surrounded by a large patch of slightly mottled medium thick film covering the remainder of the surface of the beer and a thick ring at the edges of the glass. Moderate amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate to strong aromas of juicy tropical/pineapple + tropical/mango + tropical/passionfruit + berry + dank resinous hops over the top of moderate aromas of biscuit + pale + oat + wheat malts with a moderate amount of sugary sweetness.

T: Upfront there are moderate flavors of biscuit + pale + oat + wheat malts with a moderate amount of sugary sweetness. That is followed by moderate to strong flavors of juicy tropical/pineapple + tropical/mango + tropical/passionfruit + berry + dank resinous hops which impart a light amount of bitterness which fades away quickly leaving moderate lingering tropical hop flavors.

M: Medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Moderate amounts of creamy soft/fluffiness mid-body and a light amount of dryness in the finish.

O: Easy to drink with well hidden alcohol and a very pleasantly creamy soft/fluffy mouthfeel. Very enjoyable, heavily tropical hop flavors and aromas without too much sweetness.