8th Orbit
New Trail Brewing Company

(49 days) Moderate haze. Luscious fruity aroma with notes of orange. Big vibrant fruit salad flavor with citrus elements coming out on top. Light sweetness as expected for a beer this big, but overall balance is excellent.

 

 

 

Canned 04/15/26, into a stemless wine glass.

Pours a dark hazy yellow with massive tight foam. Aroma is rotten mango, pineapple, coconut, and a little ethanol. Flavor follows nose well. You could throw darts at the flavors modern hazy IPAs focus on and it would hit all of them. Grapefruit, pineapple, orange peel and juice, coconut, a little passionfruit, grassy dankness, bitter citrus rind, it has all of it in spades. This really reminds me of what New Trail does best, but with a lot of changes and a little more old school flair. It's still low IBU, tropical, and boozy, like all their IPAs are, but it's more grassy and balanced, and for a triple, super easy to drink. The flavors aren't mind blowing in that they're very sweet or perfectly juicy or anything, but this is very fresh, extremely balanced, and just so varied. You can tell there's 8 hop varietals in here and that they're all contributing something good, it's not a generic "fruit salad" or "tropical fruit" flavor. Malt presence is very low like in Double Broken Heels and such, and it finishes bitter but sticky. Feel is great, huge body but so smooth. Of course, there's a little ethanol bite, but it's 10% and it's very very easy to ignore.

Overall, big hit for New Trail. Huge, tropical, heavy, but shockingly easy to enjoy and complex. Right on brand for them.

Slightly more than a fingers worth of ultra lush off white colored froth... Rock solid retention... Color is a moderately hazed pale golden apricot... Nose of fresh oranges and assorted tropical fruits... Sweet caramel and breads base notes... Lovely nose all the way around... Palate closely follows the aroma... Some slightly metallic notes... Excellent balance of hops and malt... Medium bodied and quite sturdy... Sleek with a light carbonated bite... Solid and highly enjoyable beer worthy of the anniversary moniker... Happy 8th anniversary...

For a modern American hazy, it wasn't a bad pour that emptied the entire contents of a pint can into a clear glass liter mug. Although generous, the stark white foam produced wasn't excessive. The color of the brew is very dull amber and it's opaque. Its aroma is mostly of sharp hops, carrying zesty and piney notes. To taste, there's more of a fruity sweetness than expected, like mango or guava. The hops come through as anticipated, but a little less bitingly bitter. With a remarkable disguise of the 10.8% ABV, the mouthfeel is extraordinary. Complaints about this one are few. Even the glass lacing is decent for a beer with this potency. The alcohol may contribute to this being on the sweet side, but at least it's not too fruity. Then, it helps to dry out a cleaner finish. This is one of the better 10+% ABV HIPAs you'll have.

An outstanding hazy!

Poured into a wide mouth, grip shaped goblet: color is straw gold, hazy, head is off white with fine bubbles and presents a quick quarter inch thick.

Smell is pith, citrus, mixed tropical, light dank, hint of barley base malt and honey.

Taste is similar with pithy, citric, stonefruit, light pineapple forward flavor intermingled with base malt, oats, honey; abv is hidden well.

Mouthfeel is low carbonation, smooth sweetness, light bitterness, not too drying considering strength.

Overall a lightly flavored hazy triple IPA - somewhat of an oxymoron but the flavor and powerful presentation you might expect is smoothed by the strength and heavy wheat/oat additions.