Heavy Cut
Fidens Brewing Company

 

Great look
Great smell
Great flavor
Needs to have a better body/mouthfeel. More body would throw this over the top like most Fidens brews, but alas, no go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canned on 6/30/21; consumed on 7/28/21

Pours a turbid, dark gold body capped with multiple fingers of fluffy, eggshell-white foam; great head retention leaves half-finger layer of frothy cap and substantial collar, while myriad thin, webby lacing is caked across the walls of the glass.

Aroma opens with pineapple and fresh guava as dank hops with an edge of sweat accent ripe mossy tones over the middle; remnants of gooseberry must hold firmly into the back end, while tinges of strawberry and overripe clementine nod toward a lingering, fruity sweetness.

Taste shows guava and pineapple meeting musty lemon, gooseberry, and moss, earthier tones largely overriding an initial tropical foundation; grapefruit peel develops subtly over the mid-palate, followed by wet grass into a resurgent tint of citrus in the form of passionfruit, orange, and tangerine on the back end of the profile.

Mouthfeel offers a medium body with subtle, moderate carbonation, a wispy underlying grit dispered into a soft hop twang enabling a brightness over the mid-palate and peaking to a juicy finish accented with waves of background zest and a pillowy bitterness.

While a lush, fruity precedent is cut with earthier hops, a skillful NEIPA holds balance yet detracts from its fully focused evolution of tropical nuance; a quality standard is set, faltering only slightly and largely succeeding at engaging the hop profile fully.