Heat Lightning
New Trail Brewing Company

 

 

Poured into a grip narrow imperial pint glass: color is gold, head is off white and presents one finger thick; head dissipates to solid top with lacing on the glass sides.

Smell is subdued for the strength/style with some tropicals, light piney resin, hint of berry, booziness with warmth.

Taste is quick hit of hop notes, intermingled with oats/wheat, then a big boozy bite and bitter dryness; somewhat minerally.

Mouthfeel is low carbonation, moderate sweetness, not bitter upfront but drying and boozy in the finish and palate presence.

Overall - a bit lacking in aroma and flavor at this strength, at more boozy than some of their other DHIPAs.

this Beer NOt Retired!

 

This came from a pint can. The contents were emptied easily into a clear glass liter mug. The just-off-white head is very modest and seems to be enduring. Yellow-amber is the color and it's opaque, but relatively bright. More tropical fruit hoppiness is to be smelled than anything else. Like most Imperial hazies from this brewery, it is full tasting, with a sharp resinous bite up front. The hop bite doesn't let up and it moves toward dryly piney at the finish. Things the nose did not foretell. No doubt, the 9% ABV contributes to the biting, but there's no specific taste of the alcohol. Oats and wheat rarely compensate for a good barley malt based IIPA, but somehow New Trail consistently does it. It would take the most experienced taste-tester to be able to identify each of their classically good hazies individually. Let's just be grateful when another turns up, for they remain among the best hazies brewed outside of New England. The body may be a little light for all the flavor, but so what?

 

16oz can into a pint glass. NO freshness dating.

Looks excellent in the glass. Very hazy orange juice body. Good white head persists, but only leaving a little lacing.

Standard dull fruit aroma.

On tasting, Might be the juiciest beer I've ever had. Makes you want to gulp down another mouthful. Fruity, bittersweet, extremely drinkable.

Mouth closer to full than medium, finish fruity and juicy.

Overall, another very good NE ipa from New Trail. Sorry I only have the single.

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 nineteenth of this newest set.

From the CAN: "Heat Lightning Hazy Double India Pale Ale"; "Keep Cold[,] Drink Fresh".

I Crack!ed open the vent & beCAN a steady C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. It foamed beautifully to form two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with very good retention that left a load of sticky lacing in its wake. Color was a deeply-hazy/lightly-cloudy Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7). Nose held an interesting admixture of tropical fruit sweetness along with a citrusy bitterness, like mango & papaya meet grapefruit & lemon. Hmm. It struck me as being a bit jangly & discordant, but the proof of this particular pudding will be in the tasting. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, but very slick on the tongue, solid evidence of their use of oats. The taste was surprisingly bitter, like biting directly into the rind of a grapefruit, slowly giving 'way to the sweeter tropical fruitiness. Wow! I thought of grapefruit marmalade with mango & papaya on the side. It was literally stunning as I was unprepared for its intense bitterness. They suckered me in with all of the other hazy IPAs/NEIPAs up until this one, like Ali's famous rope-a-dope, and then ... POW! Right in the kisser! Phew. This was no playin' around & proof that I am losing my edge, due to work & the long hours. Finish was exceptionally bitter & dry as a result. Mymymy. CANother winner! YMMV.

Gift from son, purchased at Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA. Reviewed 8/20/20.
Undated. In reefer at store. Stored upside down at home at 42 degrees and served at 45 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 4
First pour – Pale Straw (SRM 2), hazy.
Body – Straw (SRM 3), opaque. When held to direct light, same.
Head – Large (Maximum 4.5 cm, aggressive center pour), off white, high density with a few embedded rocks, average retention, diminishing to a five to ten mm jagged crown and a complete thin cap.
Lacing – Very good! Wide, three-dimensional band of mostly tiny to small bubbles, producing a few mutated stalactites.
Aroma – 3 – Weak generic citrus, no malt, no yeast.
Flavor – 3 - Begins slightly bitter with no identifiable citrus or fruit flavor, certainly no grapefruit, orange, or pineapple, although there is some earthiness involved. No malt, no yeast. No alcohol (? % ABV, NOT marked on container) taste or aroma. No diacetyl or dimethylsulfide.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, velvety (Thanks, oats!), soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 2.75 (Minus 0.25 points for undated container and minus 0.25 points for secret alcohol content). Looks good, lacks distinct flavor or aroma. The oats help because of the smoothness they add to what otherwise would probably be a pretty rough drinking experience.

 

Fingers worth of bone white head with rock solid retention... Color is an opaque hazy yellow... A glorious array of hops burst through on the nose, mostly of the sweet citrus variety... The palate mirrors the nose with a touch more sweetness than expected... On the fuller side of medium bodied... A bit chewy... Excellent hazy IPA as expected...

L: poured into a pint glass, looks like orange juice.

S: big tropical fruit in the nose. Pineapple, mango, maybe a little grapefruit too.

T: follows the nose. Big tropical fruit but finishes with a nice kick. Slightly boozy but not overpowering. To be expected listed at 9%

F: thick mouthfeel

O: well executed DIPA and something I would drink again

 

 

 

A - Pours an opaque orange tan color with thick creamy soapy white lacing.

S - Tropical and citrus dominate the nose. Pineapple, passion fruit, and peppery fruit rind on the nose.

T - Pineapple, citrus, passion fruit, and spicy peppery citrus rind. Finishes initially on the sweeter side but a few seconds later nice citrus bitterness emerges to scrub away any sweetness.

M - Thick mouthfeel.

O - This is a very respectable D-IPA and definitely worth a look.

 

 

OK, I'll begin with a bitch session: this brewery refuses to date their cans, and doesn't provide any ABV info on the can or on their website. In this day and age, I mean, WTF??
That having been said, their NEIPAs are SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD that I'll forgive almost any transgression. Heat Lightning is a super-hazy NEIPA that pours an opaque straw color. Big rocky off-white head that leaves great lacing. Initial impression is not-bitter-not-sweet grapefruit, peach, mango, pine and a little dankness on an oats backbone. Hugely juicy. Mouthfeel is smooth and pillowy, just like a NEIPA should be. Alcohol - whatever it is - is extraordinarily well hidden. I'm guessing it's in the 9% range but it could be higher. Finish is soft and invites the next sip.
This is really good beer. Get you some.