Wandering Into The Fog - Rakau
Abomination Brewing Company

 

Served in a tulip glass from the can.

Appearance: cloudy as it can get with an opaque body. White head with a slight tint coming off a mix between orange and yellow.

Smell: light yellow grapefruit skin, more hints of juicy

Taste: Raw baguette with feels of pineapple and bit of passion fruit with grapefruit skin.

Mouth: might be crazy but comes off thick with a soft carbonation, sticky body with a slight dryness to the beer.

Overall: Good brew, little tropical tasting but not lacking any manliness to the beer. Good brew which honestly have not had any Fog series not leave satisfaction to the palate.

 

 

 

**
02/27/21

can to tumbler.

canned 12/23/20, so over 2 month old.

LOOK: super hazy and creamy, medium yellow color, head is off white. excellent retention. similar to other abomination WITF.
AROMA: citrus, perfume, pepper.
TASTE: grapefruit, tangerine, some hairspray, the finish reminds me of those wax bottle fruit candies where the sugary liquid was inside the soft wax bottles.
FEEL: medium body, ok carbonation. super smooth.


Very drinkable. Tastes pretty fresh despite 2 months of age. Very good, but not as tasty as some of the other variants. Not sure if that is the age or the hop.

**

A - Pours golden orange with a thin creamy white head. Nice amount of soapy lacing.

S - Aroma is pineapple, orange and resinous hops.

T - The taste is tangerine, mango, peach, grapefruit and bitter dank hops.

M - Medium body with medium carbonation. Creamy mouthfeel with a soft dry finish.

O - Another really solid addition to the Wandering Into the Fog series.

Drank from a 16oz / 1 pint can purchased at Craft Beer Cellar, Belmont, MA
12/22/20
Served in a tulip

Gorgeous appearance. The cloudy, canary yellow body was topped by a frothy, inch-tall, bright white crown that fell to a thick, lasting halo. Patchy, craggily streaks of lacing coated the front portion of the glass and drippy rings stuck along the back.

The aroma was pleasant initially but slightly less punchy than I anticipated. Citrus notes were most apparent. Bit of dry yeastiness too. As the head receded, the nose turned sweeter and more potent. Ripe peach and mango notes also came forth. Some melon as well. Good amount of dankness too. The peach and mango really intensified later, as did the dankness.

The flavor profile was really fruity and bold from the get go. Nice melding of citrus, stone fruit and tropical fruit notes. Orange and tangerine came through strong up front. Orange sherbet perhaps. Punchy and sweet. Juicy peach notes appeared as the beer moved along the palate. Ripe mango was detectable too. More citrus and citrus peel on the back end and the finish. Next to zero bitterness however.

Nice fuller bodied mouthfeel. A bit nectar-like. Super creamy, slick and smooth. The liquid contained a fine, moderate effervescence that worked perfectly for the style.

Every beer I have tried in Abomination’s Wandering Into The Fog series has been terrific, and this Rakau hopped variant is no exception. Unlike most hoppy beers, which display their best qualities minutes after being opened, this got progressively more punchy and complex with time.

16oz can.

Pours cloudy gold with a half inch head of white. Melon, grapefruit, and pineapple in the nose. Medium bodied with a soft but tacky mouthfeel. Tropical citrus on the palate with minimal malt or bitterness. Honeydew, grapefruit, and unripe peach. Finishes juicy and tropical.

 

 

 

I got a can of this beer off the single shelf from my local beer store just around the corner. It poured a hazy orangish with white head that is leaving some lace. The scent had bright berry citrus with subtle dank fruit highlights. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with berry and melon characteristics. The mouthfeel was fuller in body and had good carbonation. Overall it is a solid beer.

This is my third IPA from Abomination Brewing, having previously had Rare Fog (middle of last year) and Fuck 2020 (days ago), and it's one I'm excited about because it uses a hop that feels a little under-utilized when it comes to NZ varietals these days. Sure, that could have to do with the fact that it's commonly described as "stone fruit"-forward, which isn't quite as popular a flavor descriptor as "tropical" or "citrus" or "dank" these days, but it's definitely one that can mean many different things, and I hope this shows off Rakau in all its complex glory.

The pour is that of a deep and opaque NEIPA with a yellow-orange hue, completely hazy and turbid of course, but topped with a finger of intensely-white foam that leaves behind chunky lace and quality legs. The foam completely covers the surface and remains consistent throughout sipping. Not much to say here, but it looks pretty good honestly. It's essentially what I expect from a "good" NEIPA, and not much more or less than that.

The nose is giving me a lot of "Idaho 7" vibes, with threads of melon, apricot, plum, and pineapple running throughout. It doesn't have much in the way of the unusual "tannin" elements I7 can display when utilized heavily in the dry-hop phase (though I should note this was double dry-hopped with Rakau), and there's perhaps a touch more passion fruit and maybe even some light dankness here as it opens up than when compared to I7, but they seem like they could be pretty similar hops at the end of the day. Rakau is known as a very oily hop, and I think a lot of the fun volatiles here do good work giving off complexity in the context of a bigger IPA.

On the tongue, WITF Rakau shows off medium-density maltiness with layers of orange, honeydew melon, and apricot-like flavors from this hop varietal. Hints of spice, grassiness, and piney dankness also come forward here and there, but overall there isn't as much intensity as I'd want. There's no bitterness or hoppy kick, and each sip seems to fade a bit before it even gets to reach an apex of flavor. Perhaps the overly-soft and "safe" wheat/oat-laden profile is contributing to my lack of satisfaction with this, but that unfortunately also affects the flavor profile and keeps it from being as intense and depictive of the hop varietal on order as it probably could be. A pity, because this seemed like it'd be great. If you're giving me a single-hop (double dry-hopped!) double IPA in the 8-9% ABV range, I expect to be knocked out by that hop in the context of whatever IPA you're making to showcase it, and this just relents too soon for my liking. Wish I liked this one more, but it pulls too many punches where it counts for me to say it's a great beer. It's fine, but I wanted a lot more. Maybe that's my bad, but... meh, I don't think so.