Salute To Classic Beer Styles
Green Cheek Beer Company

 

 

 

Straight pour from a 32oz crowler to one of Green Cheek’s tall, skinny flutes. This was purged with CO2 and filled on Sunday, two days ago, and refrigerated since.

Appearance (3.0): This pours three-plus fingers of crackly, fizzy foam capping an orange juice-looking body: deep yellowish orange, cloudy, and thick-looking. Personally, I think the body is dope but the head isn’t there.

Smell (4.5): This is . . . triumphantly fragrant. Thick papaya nectar, overripe mango flesh, sweet banana, a hint of strawberry, and a touch of twangy kumquat bum rush the nose, but as it opens up it blends a bit into caracara orange with a light undertone of gooseberry, but with a kind of dank shade coloring it all just a bit. I don’t know what the malt is contributing here. This is just straight up juice.

Taste (4.0): Here, it strays away from the sweet berry and caracara, veering more toward tart, bright kumquat, along with green banana, yellow grapefruit pith, and a very subtle undertone of musky papaya. The malt is dry but silky, with what seems like raw wheat and oats adding and sort of dusty, cracked grain feel. No booze to be seen whatsoever. As it opens up, the hops seem a little more bombastic, with the dank character noted in the nose coming through as a slightly hot, spicy layer of ganja-focused tones. At the same time, the grapefruit pith and kumquat seem just as bright. I wish it were a bit juicier, but I appreciate how much character and bitterness are put forth in this example of the sub-style.

Mouthfeel (4.0): Smooth. Really, really smooth and silky. The body feels like a velvety medium-weight, with a subtle, extremely fine-pointed but tingly carbonation washing over the palate before foaming up with a spicy, light burn. The hops really peel away the silkiness of the body, offering a dry, but still filling drink. Again, it could stand to be a bit juicier, but the fairly firm character it offers is appreciated.

Overall (4.0): Personally, I dig this beer. The only notable gripe I have is there’s so much more tropical juice suggested in the nose than is translated to flavor or feel—like, it could be just that much brighter and slicker. Instead, the beer fills that potential with bitter, dry, and spicy notes, offering more West Coast character in an indisputably Northeast vessel. Like, this is Northeast/New England IPA in every way shape in form—it’s just one of the examples that retains quite a bit more bitterness and abrasiveness than others. And, frankly, I think it benefits from it. Recommended. Don’t you love it when good breweries work together to make something very good?