Hazy Town
Amsterdam Brewery

 

 

 

 

L: Opaque hazy light peach yellow, some head
S: Like a 5 alive juice blend, stonefruit and citrus, very fruity and little else
T: Zingy fruit juice blend and resiny grapefruit pith, light toasty hops, medium bitter finish
F: Medium body, light carbonation. oily then dry finish
O

473 ml can served cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for around $3.40 CDN.

Appearance - Hazy milky orange colored brew with creamsicle highlights. A small half finger of white head is poured and fizzles out quick.

Smell - Mild nose, some light citrus with grapefruit and peach and passionfruit. Lacking in intensity.

Taste - Some bitterness, earthy grapefruit and some light sweetness from the orange, peach and passionfruit. More depth than the nose has.

Mouthfeel - Medium but fleshy bodied, leaning towards the gassy side of brews with a juicy feel but finishes quite dry. Works well.

Overall - A decent Vermont style IPA, that looks the part, but there's just a lack of depth and intensity on both the nose and in the taste that keeps this from being a bigger winner. Certainly serviceable and no objections to enjoying again, however better local options are out there.

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; one of four hoppy brews included in their YYZ Flight Pack. Coded L0119 (Nov 1 2019) and served barely chilled. Described as a "juicebomb" on the front label and a "Vermont-style IPA" on the back, I'm going to take this as an NEIPA.

Pours a turbid, translucent pale golden-yellow, capped off with nearly an inch of loose, soapy white head that dissipates completely within the next several minutes. A doily-patterned band of lace is left in its wake, along with a modest collar of foam - looks as expected for the style. Its aroma is pretty juicy, as advertised - I'm getting mandarin orange and grapefruit, as well as some peach, pineapple and a little bit of passion fruit, with minor hints of resiny, earthy hops.

It's a decent hazy IPA - perhaps a little bit lighter than average, both in terms of abv and flavour intensity. Grainy pale malts provide a subtle backbone, with fruity notes of orange, stone fruit and white grapefruit coming through clearly; I'm also getting hints of passion fruit before a subtle touch of grassy, floral hop bitterness rounds out the finish. Notes of grapefruit, hop acids and lemony citrus pith carry on briefly into the aftertaste. Medium-light in body, with relatively low carbonation levels that weakly agitate the surface of the palate, providing a gentle bite to its otherwise smooth, soft mouthfeel. Fair drinkability: while there's not enough bitterness to exhaust the taste buds, there's something about NEIPAs - perhaps the hop acids - that usually leads to the same end result IMO.

Final Grade: 3.84, a B+. Amsterdam's IPAs have never been staples in my rotation, and I doubt Hazy Town will change that. Don't take me the wrong way - I enjoyed the glass, but if I had to pick between Hazy Town, their Boneshaker, or Space Invader, it would probably come down to whichever one was most fresh - they're all reasonably good pale ales that I don't mind drinking on occasion, but aren't really what I'd consider go-to's.