Animal Style
Farm by Beer Tree Brew Co.

 

 

After the entire contents of a pint can were emptied into a clear glass liter mug, there were good and bad things to observe. First, the good. The brew is beautifully copper-amber and hazy, but still bright. Concerning is the amount of starchy off-white foam that can't possibly be considered a proper head. There is a decent hoppy aroma with piney notes for the nose. So, it comes down to taste. This is where it falls short. All the foam should have been a warning sign. This drinks remarkably thinly for the category. There's a shallow hop bite, not a notable one and not one to salvage this, overall. There's no backbone that counterbalances the hops. This is one more nicely hopped brew that appearantly disregarded that it takes a solid malt compliment to make a good IPA. Its sratified glass lacing can't overcome the lack of good taste and mouthfeel this brings.

This version features Columbus, Simcoe, Chinook, and Amarillo

Decent looking IPA shaded towards amber and caramel. Flavors are caramel malt with middling sweetness progressing to piney and floral bitterness with hints of citrus. Decent but rather unremarkable IPA that does get better as it warms. I'd like to see it upped to the 7% range adding to the body with more bitterness, then maybe there is something above average here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

on draft in a tulip glass

clear, medium yellow golden in color, white head. well rounded classic west coast style hop aroma - mix of pine and citrus. similar flavor, fairly dry and crisp, bitter. thin to medium bodied

A: Poured from the can into a Palm tulip. Body is clear coppery-amber with a wisp of white head on top.

S: Faint smell of tropical fruits - ripe melon, papaya - and brown sugary malt.

T: Caramel malt foundation, then the hops - tropical and stone fruits (melon, ripe peaches) and a hint of lime. Touch of spice and esthery heat at the finish.

M: Light-to-medium in heft. Carbonation is faint.

O: Not bad. Nice to get back to an old-fashioned American IPA after drinking so many NE IPAs recently.

 

From a can dated today, 3/4/2019 , poured into a tulip.

Moderately hazy golden-amber, with 3 fingers of off-white head.

Smell is fresh pine, a hint of turpentine, mixed citrus, with grapefruit sporadically popping out, and a slight bready aroma and floral hops.

Taste is pine, grass, grapefruit, dried tangerine rind, dried onion, candied pineapple - without sweetness, bread crust, lime zest, frozen-then-thawed crabapple(concentrated tart apple, but not yet vinegary), and leather. Strong, yet rounded bitterness throughout. Occasionally a sharp stab of bitterness+spiciness pops up, briefly.

Feel is on the light side of medium, with some creaminess. Substantial, yet soft carbonation , that provides a good bit of tingle throughout,

Overall, well-balanced, and easy-drinking. I like it. I do wish the pine element was more prominent, and without the solvent(y) part. I expect that will fade , and this will likely be better in time. Warrants a revisit in 2-4 weeks. That said, I still recommend giving this a try if you like WCIPAs.

Edit 3/18/19 : I like it better at 2 weeks old. As I anticipated, the solvent/alcohol element has almost faded away, allowing more pine & citrus to show a bit more . Maybe a +.10 bump in the total ? (4.13)