S.O.B. Hill
New Trail Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slight off white head.... Limited retention... Exceedingly pale gold color... Nose of light citrus and caramel malts... Palate is consistent with nose highlighted by orange zest and caramel... Mouthfeel is on the lighter side of medium bodied... Enjoyable and sessionable....

 

A bit of a rarity, a New Trail offering that's available year round. So, now a pint can has poured into a clear glass liter mug. Its color is rather ordinary, a bright and light amber, with a translucence rare in the daze of haze. There's plenty of carbonation contributing to the softly billowing white head very common with wheat added beers. The aroma is nice, mostly straight hops, without too much starchiness. The glass lacing is also nice. There really isn't anything about this that isn't nice. It's light across the tongue, but with enough body to carry the hops and alcohol. The hops appear as part of the initial taste, assert their bitterness near the finish and leave very cleanly. It won't compete with the bolder versions of its style, but this is a very nice AIPA.

Below Avg. offer from NT, can't go wrong with almost all other offers.

I have been relegated to drinking just one (1) beer a day due to my current USPS job, which requires that I work 6 days/week, 10.5 hours/day. I CAN do it & have adjusted nicely (sort of), but I find that it is usually one upon returning home & then off to bed to reChArNge for the next night. Yes, I am working the night shift, but I actually enjoy it! I CAN run a couple/few errands during the day, if I am so motivated & inclined + I really like many of my fellow night shifters where the day people are less so.

I was recently staring into the abysss, I mean, watching a little TV, when I happened to realize that I had a subsCANtial amount of New Trail CANs in abeyance & decided to revisit them for yet CANother brewery horizontal. This shall be the tenth of this newest set.

From the CAN: "S.O.B. Hill India Pale Ale"; "Keep Cold[,] Drink Fresh"; "Black Forest Elevation 1998[,] S.O.B. Elev.[,] Hyner View Elev. 1986". The latter are shown as trail marker signs on a topographic map as the background.

I am hoisting, rating & reviewing this one as a tribute to my foil, the recently-passed Jack Curtin. Jack was a beer writer based in PHL & in his role as duty curmudgeon, he disliked my irreverence. We traded many barbs & jibes in passing & word has it that he has saved me a seat at the bar. At the opposite end so that we needn't interact!

I Crack!ed open the vent & beCAN a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass, holding my breath as I did so. I was quite worried that this was going to be CANother of their hazy NEIPAs, but my fears were unfounded. It foamed nicely to form just under two fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with good retention, leaving some nice lacing in its wake. Color was a pretty Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5) with NE-quality clarity, prompting an impromptu visit from The Gelt Gang of Midas, Mammon & Croesus. Nose smelled of olde skool PNW hops - grapefruit & pine, in abundance! How did we ever get away from this?!? This was the sort of thing that made me a hophead in the first place! Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but on the approach, along with an oily slickness that really brought out the flavors. The taste was just like the nose - a riotous throwback to the turn of the century with a start of grapefruit citrusiness followed by a cool minty blast of pine. 8=O I have SO missed this sort of thing in favor of tropical/Southern Hemisphere IPAs, NEIPAs, ad nauseum! This is just the sort of thing to really make my day. Finish was dry, but not gaspingly so. I CAN remember some in this vein that were so heavily hopped as to be downright astringent. Not in this case. The Bill Town (Williamsport) boys have come through yet again! YMMV.

 

Undated* can into pint glass. Pours a clear light amber with a brief off-white head. Initial impression is sweet citrus, mango, pineapple, and light caramel. Mouthfeel is medium and approaching sticky. Finish is sweet but rapidly fades to a slight bitterness.
Interesting IPA: it has elements of the old-school West Coast IPAs but has obviously taken a couple of pages from the NEPA playbook.

*What is it with these guys? They refuse to date-stamp their product, and most do not have the ABV listed either.