Fallen Between the Lines
Timber Ales

 

 

 

 

 

16 fl oz can with artsy label art and a pull tab purchased in Colorado. $19.99 USD per 4-pack (ouch!). Collaboration between Timber Ales and Narrow Gauge Brewing Company. "Brewed & packaged by Timber Ales, North Haven, CT."

7% ABV. "India Pale Ale." According to seemingly trustworthy online sources/retailers, this beer "has been dry-hopped with a combination of Mosaic, Citra and Enigma hops."

BODY: Turbid yellow-orange. Dull and uninviting...certainly worse off for them having skipped any attempt at filtration. Lacks vibrance and life. Opaque.

HEAD: Dies within 20 seconds, but its vestigial floater ring suggests it was white in colour.

Looks poor for an IPA, to be frank. Another casualty of the haze craze, I guess. Why not just filter it?

AROMA: Fruit juice. Pulp. Orange/citrus. Mediocre canned orange juice concentrate.

Suggests a juice-driven IPA with minimal bitterness and concomitantly limited hop pungency/depth of hop flavour.

Aromatic intensity is moderate. The spritzy orange aroma does stand out, and though it could be better it's surprisingly fresh.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Juicy and citrusy, rife with orange juice concentrate and thickened pulp.

If Mosaic was actually used, I don't taste it either in the form of tropical fruit or its signature subtle blueberry flavour (when utilized to the best of its ability).

As for Enigma hops, I don't pretend to have encountered them before, but apparently they're supposed evoke "notes of pinot gris, raspberries, red currant, and light tropical fruit." That's a definite NO on all counts for me, save for maybe some vague white grape.

Pulp, pulp, and more pulp. I guess if I wanted alcoholic orange juice, I'd drop some Kirkland Signature vodka into some Simply Orange, but it seems the India Odwalla Ale has become a sought-after substyle.

Scintillae of melon. Some unpleasantly acidic plant matter flavour I guess the kids call "hop burn."

Smooth, thick, wet, somewhat refreshing, medium to full-bodied, well carbonated, acidic, juicy, pulpy. Its acidity is off-putting.

Not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, harsh, rough, or scratchy.

OVERALL: I mean it's a drinkable beverage, but it's another orange-juice-dressed-up-as-beer attempt to capitalize on the turbid IPA segment. If I wanted a top tier citrusy IPA, I'd reach for Kern River's Citra, and if I wanted a Citra & Mosaic hopped IPA then for my money Deschutes' Fresh Squeezed is a better beer (and it's less than half the price). I guess if you miss your parents' cans of Dole OJ concentrate, this is the beer for you.

Not bad - I mean I think the brewers accomplished what they were after and it has no faults - but it just ventures on no longer tasting like beer to me, and the point of this doesn't seem to be showcasing its hop varietals any more...it's about minimizing bitterness and that's coming at the expense of the hops, but in the India Pale Ale style - to me - hops are precisely the point.

C (2.86) / AVERAGE

***
12/27/20 can:

Floral, citrusy. 2-row/pale malt. Probably wheat.

Hop profile underwhelms but it's not a bad beer per se. It leaves an awful lot to be desired and its $5/can pricetag is pretty steep for its mediocrity.

C / AVERAGE

 

 

 

1 PINT / CAN - FROM GLASS
APPEARANCE
3/3
Hazy, medium yellow color. Pours a bit of head that dissipated quickly. Very good looking beverage.
SMELL
8/12
Lots of tropical fruit/melon initially then gets some malt/grain in there on the end.
TASTE
17/20
Very well made NE IPA. Juicy Tropical fruits/melon with a nice light to moderate bitter finish. Super drinkable, could put down a few of these guys.
MOUTHFEEL
4/5
Good amount of carbonation for the style. On the dry side. Smooth finish
OVERALL
8/10
Very well done true to style NE IPA. Hits all the marks for me. Very tasty.