Foggy Eyes
Bear King Brewing Company

RB transfer

 

Poured an orange hazy body with 1 finger head. Nice lacing down the side as you drink through the pint. Good head retension. Citrusy aroma, notably grapefruit and pineapple. Big grapefruit flavor, nicely carbonated and some cracker/bread flavor too. Nice find at my local HEB and will be buying again.

 

Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a very lightly hazed golden-orange color with a small head of white foam. The head has a great level of retention, fading over time and leaving a ton of lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is super strong of a rich tropical fruit aroma with tons of pineapple, tangerine, and mango. Along with these smells comes a rather sizable about of a nice grapefruit smell and some herbal aroma. Rounding it all out is a touch of breadiness and some very light floral smells.
Taste – The taste starts out drier than I was anticipating with a bready and cracker malt base mixed with some light fruit sweetness of tangerine and pineapple. At the start there is a rather strong grapefruit hop presence, with it growing more intense and more rind like in nature as the taste advances. At the same time there is a touch of harvest fruit that develops as well as some herbal and floral tastes, which all together, leave one with a grapefruit heavy, but still rather balanced taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is medium in thickness and creaminess with a carbonation level that is average, both of which are rather appropriate for the style and the tastes.
Overall – While not super “hazy” it is a rather nice drinking and somewhat more grapefruit heavy IPA that maintains a nice balance and an easy drinking nature.

 

Pours a golden in color with hints of copper and a small head that dissipates to a thin layer of lacing that sticks to the glass as you drink. Not as hazy as I expected. Carbonation looks average to below average. Lots of melon on the nose with hints of pine, orange creamsicle and an almost Pilsner-like maltiness. Quite a complex aroma, and not that typical of a NEIPA which are generally a bit more on the juicy side. The flavor is also intriguing. Melon and pine hops with some herbalness and spice and a very solid, buttery malt profile. Finishes a bit dry and bitter with lingering citrus rind on the tongue. I quite like the malt balance, this would otherwise be way too bitter for my taste. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with zesty carbonation and ample chewiness. Pretty drinkable, although it feels a bit acidic.

Overall another very enjoyable offering from Bear King. I'm glad I grabbed a six-pack of this because it has a fair amount of complexity. Curious to see what other notes I find as it warms. This wasn't exactly the flavor profile I was expecting, I expected more haze and more juiciness, less overall bitterness and a more subdued malt profile. However, I quite like this. This doesn't strike me as a typical NEIPA. It reminds me more of some hazy IPAs I've had out of California (such as HenHouse Brewing) as well as some other local HIPAs here in Texas (Pinthouse Brewing comes to mind). Cheers!

can dated 12/18/20

pours a hazy mellow red-tinged deep yellow gold body with an excited white frothy foam head that has moderate retention and leaves behind quite a lot of thin sticky sudsy lacing as it settles to a thin murky cap with defined halo

the aroma is a robust rip of ripe tropical fruit, zesty citrus, and an herbal tinged shade of evergreen

taste follows that up with the said tropical fruit splintering under the rush of the intense evergreen; malt is bready and full

mouthfeel: moderately high carbonation and medium-light body that goes smooth with soft rolling carbo prickles before finishing slightly dry with herbal hop bitterness in the aftertaste

overall:
while I am not the biggest fan of the whole "evergreen but not quite pine" jam that this brew shares with plenty others like it, this is a noticeably well crafted brew. luckily I bought this pack with their pale ale (which blew my mind and will be reviewed after this one) which helped confirm that if not for the lack of commitment to a pine hop brew, I would have been smitten. looking forward to exploring this new brewery in the area!