Strata Points
Equilibrium Brewery

RB transfer

 

 

 

Pours a hazy, opaque orange with a nice cap of foam. I can smell orange juice, grapefruit rind, and pineapple juice. The taste is also juicy with notes of pineapple and grapefruit. There's a pithy bitterness in the finish. The mouthfeel is good, medium bodied and well carbonated.

Strata Points

Equilibrium Brewery IPA - Imperial / Double

A juicy, and kinda watery feel, tons of Honeydew melon and cantaloupe in the hop flavor. I love the "Special Lettuce" description! It's very true. Tangy herbs and sweet, golden malt bill works right with these oddly fruity Strata hops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canned 4/20/22 (7w4d ago)

Appearance: Pours a nearly completely hazy (10% clarity) medium orange color with a large white head. SRM of 8. (4.25)0

Aroma: Strong aromas upfront of pineapple and passionfruit. Then a sweet tropical papya, guava, and starfruit, I think mango predominates. It lingers through the middle. More citrus and pineapple on the end.

Flavor: Similar to the nose. Strong flavors of strawberry, pineapple, passionfruit, citrus that gives way to a tropical flavors of guava, papaya, starfruit, maybe even some tropical peach, strawberry, and mango, but still bright. Finishes with more strawberry and mango, which predominate here as the beer warms and develops. (4.50)

Feel: Medium to heavier bodied. Moderate carbonation. Finish is juicy, sweet, but pleasant.

Compared to Hop Butcher Oblong 6/12/22: Pours similar, slightly darker. Stronger aromas. More tropical strawberry, guava, papaya, melon, and mango. Less citrus flower. Similar pineapple.

Compared to Mason Aleworks Strata Revengeance 8/7/22: Pours darker, larger head. Stronger aromas. More mango, pineapple, strawberry. Less herbal/pine. More complex. Winner: EQ

Overall: Some fantastic haze here. Nails the strawberry and mango flavors. Supported with pineapple, citrus, and passionfruit flavors. That mango juicy sweetness that is familiar and that I've had with Equillibrium before. Not as much as their EMc2, but similar flavor. This one may add a bit more strawberry. Sort of like a strawberry-mango flavor. Juicy, sweet, but kills it on the flavor, so much so that I don't even mind it drinks a bit sweet. Remarkable and some top-notch haze. (Rating: 4.40-)

 

 

 

 

 

16oz can, pub nonic; pours opaque dull gold with a fluffy and sticky off-white head that laces well. Aromatics are very fruity but soft still...strawberry lemonade is really at the forefront, with some other impressions of tropical and other fruit flesh...mango, passion fruit, pink grapefruit...mild dankness. The palate follows with big, fruity hop flavors; orange, strawberry, dreamsicle & orange cream with a ghostly vanilla note, sweet grapefruit. Smooth and fluffy with low bitterness, this was darn near crushable at 8% abv. Just delicious and well-executed all around.

The Strata hop is a unique and all-purpose hop that stands alone and doesn't really need any other complementary hops to give IPA its proper aroma, flavor and balance. Equilibrium brewery makes such a specific and non-one dimensional beer to prove the point.

Cloudy and allowing a diffused backlit glow, Strata Points kicks off with a pale orange-gold hue white building a firm ivory froth. With a diverse fruity array, the hops share a perfume of citrus, tropical, berry and herb in a strong citronella character with a creamy backdrop. Sweeter in its introduction, the ale begins with a creamy cereal, slight pastry and shortcake maltiness.

But the star of the show is the Strata hops that shines through the middle palate, especially once the cereal sweetness begins to recede. Citrus with red grapefruit, orange and a pep of lemon, the taste soon invites complementary nuances of passionfruit, papaya and pawpaw from a tropical standpoint. Milder complements of currant, grape and gooseberry are wrapped in a juicy honeydew envelope for a full fruit complement before finishing. Developing an herbal and bitter balance, the late taste is fully IPA with a lasting memory of cannabis, lemongrass and peppery green tea.

Medium full in body, the beer's fuller early impressions allow for a drier, more drinkable and quite refreshing finish in contrast. The beer finishes on the crisper side of malty-dry with an afterglow of curaçao spice, various fruit peels and a nearly vinous-like tanginess.