Bright Days: Wai-iti
New Trail Brewing Company

During New Beer Sunday (NBS) (Week 784), I realized that I really have an affinity for New Trail BC in Bill Town (Williamsport), PA. I had a number of CANs gifted to me for The CANQuest (tm), plus I was able to procure several more in the interim. Unfortunately, many (all?) of them required an approved pic to be in-place before I could proceed. Now, all is in readiness.

From the CAN: "New Zealand Hops India Pale Ale"; "Keep Cold[,] Drink Fresh".

I Crack!ed open the vent on this one with some trepidation. Wyatt Wingfoot initially identified it as an NEIPA & then ChANged his mind & called it an AIPA, with which the CAN's label CANcurred. That said, the nomenclature "Bright" suggests utter clarity, something for which this upstart brewery is not known for. I beCAN a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass with bated breath, hoping for the best. I got a brief finger of foamy, soapy, rocky, tawny head that disappeared with the sunset. 8=( Color was, indeed, bright. A gorgeous solid-Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9) with button brightness, forget NE-quality clarity! Nose was peachy, literally. Man, did I ever get peaches from this one. I love peaches. I used to subsist almost solely on fruit, both fresh & CANned at one point in my Naval career & peaches were the best, especially in pancakes, which is how this really smelled. Peach pancakes - peaches & biscuity malt. YUM! Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but on the approach. The taste was more bitter than the nose had led me to expect, but the taste remained peach pancakes with a side of tropical fruit salad! 8=O I had a girlfriend in the PI who I would bang publicly. Stop me if you've heard this one before. One night, she & Mama-san fashioned a complete outfit for her from fruit! I was to eat as much as possible before we did our thing in the hammock on the club's dance floor. I went to town & we made a sticky mash-up right before the SPs burst in & chased me back onto the base. This reminded me of all of that! Loads of tropical fruits. Finish was, incredibly, semi-dry. The malts & yeast had done their job in a spectacular manner & taken the sweetness out while leaving the flavor intact. I could soak in this! YMMV.

I mis-categorized this when I entered it in the BA database. It is not a NE IPA, but an American IPA. No real haze at all. Some citrus on the nose and palate, but also bready malt notes. From the NT Instagram post: “ Bright Days: Wai Iti is an American IPA. The Bright Days series is our attempt at bridging the gap between American and Hazy IPAs. Expect light tropicals complemented by deep peach & apricot.” Clean and crisp.