Echo Chamber
Annex Ale Project

 

Props to joemcgrath27 for this treat. Nose is loaded with fruity hops and citrus rind. I expected the flavour profile to follow suit, but it was more bitter than sweet, but still quite tasty nonetheless. My expectations of the New England style IPA are quite high with my Trillium exposure. Amp up the fruitiness and this will elevate to the status of NEIPA.

 

 

650ml bottle - lots of information about the brewery and their limited edition series, but nothing about the actual beer, except from the name: 'New England'. Given the ABV, I assume it's an IPA.

This beer pours a hazy, medium apricot amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves some decent thick cobwebbed lace around the glass as it lazily subsides.

It smells of pungent mixed citrus flesh (blood oranges, grapefruit, lemon, and tangerine), gritty and grainy caramel malt, a faint earthy yeastiness, some minor wet stone notes, and more leafy, weedy, and piney green hop bitters. The taste is a natural follow-up, i.e. pretty much the same - a big frooty citrus hit (mango, orange, grapefruit, and lemon/lime), bready and grainy caramel malt, some mild flintiness, somewhat phenolic yeast, and more edgy leafy, herbal, and gently soused-up floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-supporting frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and mostly smooth, nothing in particular causing much of a fuss here. It finishes off-dry, the big fruitiness and lingering malt predominating.

Overall - this is a pretty stellar apery of the real Vermont/NH deal - crazily fruity, with a good minerality, and some minor forest floor detritus essences. Add in the totally obfuscated near 8 points of the ol' wowee sauce, and we have a veritable winner. Oh, and I just got the sarcastic meaning of the name - ha ha.