Spa City Earl
Northway Brewing Co.

 

 

this is a really great beer, a hazy ipa done with citra and el dorado and then conditioned on earl grey tea, really unique and clever, tea works in so many styles, but i have rarely seen it in modern ipa, i was intrigued by this and found it highly successful, nice with the thoughtful asian fusion we were eating too. fuller bodied appearance with some significant haze to it and an inch of airy white head from the tap, not quite dull looking but slightly heavy to me. the nose is just awesome, juicy melon and sweet lemon from the hops lead right into the tea, which is majorly fragrant here, hints of lavender, elderflower, juniper, vanilla, and white sugar, the dankness of the hops and the drying herbal tea character are equally robust in this, its ever so lightly green, and the grain stays out of the way. the flavor follows the nose, and the tea is evident the entire drink, lavender again to me, citrus and citrus candy, the citra in front of the el dorado for me on the hop side, and a little more malt than i could smell, wheaty and earthy and pretty dense, although this does take on an almost creamy texture, i just think it could be lighter, cleaner, these flavors are bright but the beer is weighty. i do like the length of it, the hops and the tea both adding a little bitterness to the back end, but its more about this radiant herbal character, i think the hops and tea together are amazing in this regard, perfectly suited to one another, and even if the ferment could be a tad more tidy, i think overall this is fabulous. easily the best northway beer ive had...