The Invasion
Half Acre Beer Company

 

 

Drank this fresh just getting around to entering this review...

Pour leaves a one finger head that goes away leaving some minor lacing throughout. Body is a very clear golden color.
The nose is earthy, malty, and slightly sweet. Tastes slightly sweet, malty, and earthy as in the nose. A light bitterness in there too that leaves everything pretty balanced.
The carbonation is pretty low for the style. It's a medium bodied beer that is an easy drinker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviewed on 4-4-11
Reviewed cold from a bomber to a glass

A - Poured one finger of foam, good lacing ring, carbonation is present, cloudy citrus color

S - Roasted malts, citrus notes of orange peel and lemon. Lingering hop aroma

T/M - Medium bodied, sweet malty taste with little hop bitterness. Orange peel and lemon come through the taste with some caramel. Smooth tasting brew

D - Very tasty brew, easy to have more than a bomber of. Very smooth tasting Helles bock. Medium bodied with a nice blend of citrus and malt. I recommend this brew if you can still find some

A-pours a slightly cloudy golden orange with a thin slightly off white head leaving a light lace on the glass.

S-the aroma is rather sweet, caramel and brown sugar in abundance, slightly wet cardboard. malt overload with a hint of sweet pineapple hop and light yeasty spice in the back.

T-the taste is extremely sugary and malty. caramel malts and brown sugar are again ample. hints of wet cardboard and yeasty spice with a more pronounced, but still light hop presence bringing sweet pineapple and a touch of oily resign hop flavor. the finish adds a touch of bitterness.

M-medium to full syrupy body, hints of slickness on the back of the throat with a moderate carbonation and crisp finish.

D-overly sweet and malty, some hop balance. seems to have a potential hint of oxidation and not a fan of the overly sweet maltiness.

Reviewed on 5/14/2010. Bottle thanks to FlssmrBrewAlum. Pours a clear light orange with a small white head. Aroma of sweet malt, light bready character, light fruits. Flavor of sweet malt and sweet fruits followed by bready malt and then a returning sweet finish. Drinkable and decent, although nothing special flavor-wise.

thanks to alexander for not only making the drive up to Madison and hang out with us, but for bringing presents (this bottle included)

pour is a crisp golden color with a white head. good amount of hops malts and some light fruity sweetness on the nose. flavor has a ton of honey sweetness with some light spice. hops bitterness is all but non-existent. I'm not expert on maibock, but i was expecting a bit more hops. very drinkable beer as the alcohol is very hard to find and the mouthfeel is very clean.

Bottle. Pours a very clear golden hued color with a nice little 1 finger head into my pilsner style glass. The aroma is biscuity and grainy with a mix of sweet malt. Some soft fruit type aromas as well like peach. Medium mouthfeel. Pretty sweet upfront wtih an odd type of overarching bitterness that kicks in. Ends rather crisply. Almost reminds me of having some sort of fruit/vegetable flavor to it. Very minimal if any alcohol notes.

Poured into pils glass.

Pours 1/4 finger of creamy white head. Color is a clear golden orange with some active carbonation.

Aroma: Lots of biscuit malts up front. Grassy, earthy hops. A nice light layer of fruits that I normally don't get out of a lot of these type of bocks. Very sweet fruits.

Taste: There must be some kind of spice or herbal notes in this beer. It is quite pleasant. Maybe some kind of flower or jasmine. Also has some honey flavors. Grassy hops and biscuit malts are standard it seems. Lemon and light orange fruit flavors.

Mouthfeel: Bitter and creamy. Lighter bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. Ends dry and malty.

Overall, a decent bock with some unique flavors that I picked out. Somewhat drinkable. Glad to have tried this one.

Thanks goes out to spycow for this brew.

22oz. Bomber

Pours a nice clean/clear golden dark yellow color, nice carbonation, nice little fizzy white head, with minimal sticky lacing left behind. The nose is malty, with some grapefruit notes, slight spice. The taste is malty, sweet, nice grapefruit note, very slight tang, and a spice note. Medium body. Drinkable, a nice thirst quencher for a nice hot day.

Acquired this from Dunt in the Support Your Team BIF so a big THANK YOU goes out to him!
poured in to a pint glass

A: This beer pours a hazy light burnt orange with a one finger of bubbly white head. Head recedes quickly and leaves very minimal spots of lacing on the glass.

S: Nose is rather sweet - lots of caramel and toffee, some earthy tones and grains.

T: Taste starts with an incredible amount of sweetness caramel and toffee mingled with an odd earthy taste. Grain and biscuits begin to fill out the middle and then a sweetness comes back in during the finish.

M: Lighter side of medium body, medium carbonation, somewhat coats the tongue with an oily finish.

D: goes down ok, not too filling, not much of a kick, but I've had better of the style.

The Invasion has a clear golden colored body with a soapy head that settles down into islands of white foam. Moderate lacing is left behind.

Wow, there is a lot of malt in this one. Loads of sweetness and bread, with only a hint of noble hops in the background.

The Invasion is way too sweet, lacking a good hop profile to balance it out. I actually double checked that this beer had come out of the correct tap. Lots of bread, pale sweetness and hints of fruit in the background. Just a bit of a buttery flavor. The hops are mostly earth with a touch of metallic flavor, and although they add some bitterness to the finish, they fail to balance out the malt. The finish has a little bit of warming from the alcohol also.

Mouthfeel is maybe a bit light, but nothing that is too out of the ordinary.

The Invasion just lacked balance to me. I really need more of a hop presence, or just not so much malt that the sweetness is almost cloying.

22 oz bottle into a pint glass.

Pours a crystal clear copper, topped with a finger of bright-white head. This retains with some foam around the edges which leaves back a fizzy cascade of lacing that quickly slides down the sides of the glass. The aroma is VERY sweet, with notes of buttered bread and fruit. Earthy hops are present but don't do a whole lot except add a little more texture to the nose.

The taste is even MORE sweet in the mouth with bready malts and fruitiness, this time to point of almost being cloyingly so on the edges of the profile. The pithy and earthy bitterness that is present doesn't do a whole lot to help balance this out and actually helps extrapolate the deep tangy feel here. The hops add a dirty and gritty dryness to the finish, which doesn't do this any favors as well. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, maybe a touch fuller feeling with some crispness to the carbonation on top but there is a much more chewy and flat layer underneath where a lot of the alcohol beef dwells. I have to say that this actually feels a bit bigger than 6.5%, which once again probably speaks to the unbalanced nature of this.

I am unfortunately just not a fan of this Half Acre/FFF collaboration. Just way too much sweetness going on here and not enough crispness to help with that bigger body. A rare miss from both these breweries.

Rich orange amber color with very thin laced white head and lively carbonation. The aroma was quite surprising. Some Honey Nut Cheerios, banana peel, and some yeasty bread. The malt really shines through on the palate here. Glorious mouthfeel, but between the sweet malt, mango flavors, some orange rind, and the total lack of hops, this beer just isn't done justice. I'd love to see this toned back on the sugary malt or hopped up a tad to balance this out. Not a dynamite beer by any means, but it's interesting to see FFF's do a beer like this. I'd love to see some more collaborations along the way.