Further
Progression Brewing Company

My bestie from Charlotte NC gave me a can of this beer that he got from his beer of the month pack. It poured a hazy yellow with white head that is leaving some lace. The scent had orange creme and topical citrus notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with dry bitter tropical fruit presence. The mouthfeel was lighter in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a good beer reminds me alot of All Day from Founders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the brewery, who is completely new to me as of this brew, this is a "crushable New England style IPA. Hazy, with a soft pillowy mouth feel full of tropical tastes of melon, pineapple, apricot, and passionfruit. Simcoe hop dominant with Columbus." So, Simcoe/Columbus, eh? I'll keep it in mind. The market is a little bit congested when it comes to things like this right now, so let's see if this brewery (whose beer names all seem kinda pretentious, to be honest) has what it takes!

Pours a completely hazed-over deep orange color with a nice, dense head of bone-white foam with solid legs and pretty nice lacing. Nothing special, but it definitely looks the part upon my first inspection. As I sip at it, even nicer lace forms and gives me a better impression of what this beer is made of... loving it! Sure, the nearly-opaque body is a little played-out at this point, but the structure is good and this seems like it will live up to its promises from the label if my intuition is worth its salt...

The nose definitely has a lot of honeydew melon, florals, and interesting interplay between succulent citrus and lighter tropical notes coming through as backing elements. I'm kind of taken aback by how non-aggressive this hop combo is, honestly... I always associated Simcoe with big-time pine and grapefruit, and Columbus can dial things back for sure but it usually has its own nice character. Given that this is considered to be Simcoe upfront, first-and-foremost, I don't think it really pushes any of the hop's aspects to the brink whatsoever. That said, it's still a decent smelling beer, but it does come across better on the palate...

This brew tastes very nice and quenching; much more like what they advertise on the can than how it came across in the nose, in my opinion! Some prickly pear, lychee, melon, pear, and apricot with some backing notes of pineapple and papaya flesh before a soft, subtle finish that works well with the low-ish ABV going on here. I would never expect Simcoe and Columbus to do this, to be honest. It almost seems uncanny to me that these hops combine to give off this candied tropical fruit/orchard fruit combo, but it works out well at the end of the day. Low carbonation and medium body with a plush feel... nice stuff. I was a bit weirded-out at first because of the unusual nose, but it came together better than I expected. I'd give more stuff by these guys a shot, for sure! Wouldn't necessarily get my hopes up for world-class beer, but if they can keep the quality solid, they could be a bit like Relic or some other unknown-but-good NEIPA producer!