Amarillo Sky
Housatonic River Brewing Company

A: crystal clear; bronze in color; 2 finger off white head that receded to a thin cap; nice rings of lace;

S: malt sweetness with pine in the background;

T: follows the nose from start to finish; mild to moderate bitterness at the end;

M: medium bodied ;moderate carbonation; dry finish;

O: nicely made, but way too sweet for my taste;

 

Housatonic River Brewing Co. "Amarillo Sky"
16 fl. oz. can; coding is illegible.
$4.29 @ Kindred Spirits & Wine, Fairfield, CT

Notes via stream of consciousness: Nice label design. Amarillo and Citra hops? I was just thinking about how well those two work together. It's a double IPA at 8.2% ABV but is it straightforward or is it a New England style IPA? Let's find out. It's poured a cloudy dark amber body beneath a massive head of densely foamy off-white. Haze doesn't really mean much these days, there are plenty of cloudy beers out there, but this is quite opaque. It looks a little bit like a darker version of a Bavarian hefeweizen. How's it smell? Hmmmm... it's got that kind of "Fruity Pebbles" smell you get from Amarillo, and there's some sharper citrus, but it's also got an actual yeast note to it. Is that some biscuity malt as well? I think it is. On to the taste... ah, yes, that biscuity malt comes right through. I would have gone with basic 2-Row or Pilsner malt myself so that the hops could come through clearly, but whatever, pale ale malt is certainly a viable option and I won't fault them for their choice. There might be some crystal malt in here as well. Interesting. The hops are there, tangled in the malt, with notes of orange marmalade, dull lemon, and pine. It's gently malty, and softly sweet with a median bitterness that leads to a dry finish. I should note at this point that the head has held up magnificently. There are some "floaties" in its murky body that appear to be yeast, but beyond that it's a great looking beer; the lacing is thick and full. In the mouth it's medium bodied and crisp. All in all it's decent enough but there's nothing great about it.
Review #7,283

 

Poured from a pint can into a snifter glass. Full off-white head with an amber colored body of beer. The aroma of citrus and berries were prevalent on the nose. First sip was of grapefruit, apricots and raspberries, with a nice mildly bitter finish provided by the combination of Amarillo and Citra hops. Another fine DIPA from Housatonic.

 

Very nice NE IPA. Nice fruit on the nose and nice pinappple and apricot tones. Not as sweet as many NEIPAs which I liked.