Borough Bones
Forest & Main - The Brewery

16oz can purchased from the brewery as a mix-a-four pack for $20. From instagram, this beer was released on November 14, 2023 so it's almost 4 months old.

Look: It has a beautiful almost clear copper color. There is a light tan-colored head that is sticking around for a while. Nice steady stream of carbonation rising up the glass. It looks very nice.

Smell: Nice aromas of citrus, tropical fruit, and some "greenery". I get grapefruit rind, orange zest, some papaya, and a bit of dank notes. There's also spicy/peppery hop notes on the finish along with some green bell pepper. After pouring the bottom of the can, I get a huge green bell pepper note along with some charcoal and black peppercorns. A&D Ointment note also. Yes, it's weird but that's what I smell.

Taste: Wow, this is amazingly drinkable at 8% ABV. What's great is that the high drinkability is not a tradeoff for low flavor - this beer is definitely flavorful. It's also surprisingly balanced. Up front, there's nice citrus and mango notes with a touch of juiciness and a balanced hop and bitterness presence. The finish is relatively dry with notes of bright lemon zest and bitter orange peel. There's a mild hop bitterness, nothing crazy and not what you would expect from a typical DIPA. I guess that this is in the West Coast style of DIPAs, but it doesn't really fit that genre so well because the bitterness is so low and the drinkability is so high. Regardless, it's really tasty.

Feel: The mouthfeel is nice. It has a medium plus body to it with some nice chewiness and a slightly oily mouthfeel. I think the beer may fare better if it was slightly more carbonated. I do think that there is something about the choice of glassware; for some reason, it tastes slightly under carbonated from the snifter glass yet it tastes spot-on from the pub glass.

Overall: I really like this and it's pretty hard to categorize it. I would say that it is different from just about every other Imperial IPA that I have had. And it is nothing like the other Other Half beers that I have had. I think that Forest & Main's influence here is strong; this is almost like a British-Style DIPA with American hops if such a think is possible. Very cool. It's also interesting and surprising that I think that it tastes better from the F&M pub glass than that OH snifter. Forest and Main's beers have always done me well, and for them to collaborate with Other Half! How could this not be awesome. Very cool, it's a very enjoyable and unique beer.

From instagram:
Notes of eating clementines while you clean out your weed grinder, apricot water ice, when the grapefruit wedges come out nice and clean, dank clouds of pine pollen, and a gentle mango chapstick kiss.

 

The cracking to open the pint can and emptying its entire contents into a clear glass liter mug produced too much stark white foam to be satisfactory. There's foam all over the place. It's not pretty. Inside the vessel, it recedes unevenly and unattractively, although it leaves some rather consistent glass lacing. There's a nicely sharp pininess to the aroma that's not muddled by extraneous starches. It has the aroma of a good West Coast IPA. More or less, that's how it drinks. The hops, mostly piney, yet not overly bitter, are allowed to present themselves without being blanketed by a heavy dose of wheat and/or oats starching. Despite the original concerns brought forth by the initial pour, this turns out to be a solid American IPA, probably best put in the West Coast style. It's hoppy in a sharply bitter and clean way, like a good West Coast IPA. There's not much malty counterbalance to taste, but it's body doesn't suffer much. The 8% ABV is nicely included in both the taste and the mouthfeel. There's even some beautiful stratified glass lacing to stare at, as the liquid in the vessel recedes. First impressions aren't always right. This one certainly superceded them and should win you over.