Ride The Haze Craze
Magnanimous Brewing

 

1 PINT can
Served in an oversized, stemless wine glass

This beer pours an orangish yellow color and is turbid. It is topped with a couple inches of beige head that leaves rings of lacing as I consume.

The smell is citrus and kind of fruity.

Citrus flavor. Orange flavor builds as I drink it.

Medium bodied with a smooth, creamy mouthfeel

I listened to the entire Ride the Lightning album while slowly drinking this beer. Best experience of my day so far.

 

Modeled after a hard rock band that was popular in the '80's but then got more popular through the '90's but many think that they sucked, and are still somehow making music today, Magnanimous missed the boat as they should have been drinking off the rails on a hazy train.

But lightning strikes as the brewery's Ride The Haze Craze pours with a milky light golden and taupe appearance, slowly separating its ivory white foam from its densely packed body. A swirl of fruit, cream and sweet scents greet the nose with a cocktail of stone fruit, tropical fruit and citrus. Sweeter as the initial sip takes hold, impressions of cereal, shortbread, cream and aspartame sets a sweeter tone.

As the fruit flavors blossom on the middle palate, a juicy taste of peach, apricot and pawpaw give a creamy and nearly tangy hop flavor while complementary mango, passionfruit and papaya add a tropical complement. Not to be outdone, citrusy orange and red grapefruit complete the fruit cocktail as the hops then turn slightly bitter with soft balsa, sun tea, verbena, lemongrass and hemp.

Medium full in body, the IPA is plump, rounded and creamy throughout with a slimly bitter balance. the ale has a heavy reliance on cereal grain for balance and smoothness that comes as a limitation for crispness, dryness and refreshment. This trade off will help the causal hop dabblers but won't by "hoppy" enough for the old school hop heads.

 

From a 16oz can, undated. Purchased at the brewery 02/26/22. Served in a spiegelau IPA glass.

Pours a milkily opaque, pale lemon-orange with two fingers of super-soft, soapy suds. Retention is decent, leaving a creamy cap and a tattered curtain of sudsy lacing.

Nose is soft, creamy, yeasty. Aromas of orange and papaya. Perhaps a minor detergent odor, possibly user error.

First tasting zesty grapefruit, then sweeter, juicier orange, mango and papaya. A bit watery, some grapefruit pith and pine bitterness.

Feel is bright and zesty, somewhat thin bodied relative to the style with ample fine, prickly carbonation.

Overall, pretty good. Light, easy drinking and a bit bitter. Reminiscent (at least to me) of a lot of Mast Landing’s IPA’s’ for whatever that’s worth. At any rate, I’d drink it again. I was tempted to mark it down for having a stupid name but where would that even stop?