Ghostwalker
E9 Brewing Co.

 

First E9 beer for me, though their offerings are all over the place in my area. I stay away from them because they don't can-date, but I was assured this was a fresh can. Poured into a Sam Smith pint nonic.

A: Straw/gold pour with soft haze and a very creamy white head that laces extremely well.

S: Leads with a grassy, lemony nose, floral and fairly pungent. Leans into the earthy and piney spectrum of hop profiles, West-Coast-y. There is an underlying impression of malt as well, slightly sweet and slightly crackery.

T: Lemongrass, pine, grapefruit, that green, herbaceous note is start to finish (though the bitterness isn't overwhelming), and there is a pillowy malt profile underneath that.

MF: Creamy and smooth body with some bitterness and dryness.

O: Interesting and unique, leans old-school and I appreciate that. Not my favorite offering by far, but serviceable and enjoyable.

another hazy ipa from these guys picked up by me on blind faith, they have earned my trust purchases many times over, but i didnt love this one, its a hazy, but its also bitter, to me almost too fresh in that green and vegetal sort of way, and its one of the few to me from them that has seems a little forced or overdone on the hops, like there is a harshness to it, less refined than most of the others. not too hazy through the first half of the can, becoming more cloudy as i pour it down, the bottom inch leaves some visible sediment on top of the thick white head. it smells like an intensified version of citra to me, definitely some piney northwestern types in here too, a hint of under ripe honeydew melon, and an earthy almost raw element from the grain that i recognize from their other beers. the flavor is similar, but with some greenness factored in, a little rindy character, still lush and massively fresh, pine resin and alpha acid to finish, this is pretty bitter as it warms, a trace of doughy yeast too late, some bitter grapefruit finally, and a fuller flush mouthfeel, good carbonation, off dry, lingering hop bite. good by most standards, but i have come to expect to be blown away every time i drink beer from these guys, and this one really didnt take me there...