Lime-y Vice
Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall

As my Summer break begins to wind down, I am CANtinuing to clear out as much of the backlog (now primarily CANs) as possible before returning to work next week. The CANQuest (tm) has really gotten them in this Summer & especially Goses, Berliner Weisses, IPAs & Lagers, primarily Pilsners, in an attempt to be the heat. This is one more insCANce.

From the CAN: "Love Beer. Love Life."; "Limited"; "Sunny[,] Citrusy[,] Tart[,] Lime Gose"; "8 IBUs"; "Employee Owned".

The Crack! as I opened the vent was nice & loud so I celebrated with an aggro C-Line Glug to really get things moving. It responded with the formation of just over two fingers of fizzy, foamy, rocky, eggshell-white head with modest retention. Color was a slightly-hazy Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7). The nose actually jumped out at me during the Glug. It began with a pronounced lime citrusiness & then a sea spray redolent with salt just filled the air! Leaning into the glass only reinforced this. Mmm. As a retired U.S. Navy sailor, I miss being out to sea. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but not far beyond it, either. The taste was more lime than salt, at least initially & while it was tart, it was not as puckering as some that I have had this Summer. Finish was very dry, thanks to the salt really beginning to first dominate & then lingering well past the swallow. Once again, it was a very refreshing beer on a hot, humid Summer morning, but I may not have liked it as much at any other time. YMMV.

 

 

12oz bottle poured into tulip and cool cellar temp.

Pours a clear darker golden with. Finger of eggshell white head that'd receding at a moderate pace. Not a whole lot of.bubble action, but there's a little. Quite the color. Honey gold.

Nose reminds me a bit of Corona with a lime in it. It has that AAL smell - sweet and corny, with a modest limey citrus element. I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come.

Palate is a kick of bready malt and corny sweetness that is immediately followed by a salinity that tastes just like saltwater. Not a mineral salinity you expect from a wild ale or a grisette, but a saltwater salinity. The salinity really helps cut through the overbearing sweetness the kicks it off. There is a subtle lactic tang on the finish, but they're playing it very safe with this one. A little too safe. I'm guessing this may be their first venture into the sour world, and they're just testing the waters. I'm honestly not getting any wheat here. I do truly think there's some corn though.

Feel is both heavy and light. That initial sweetness really weighs this down a ton. Luckily, the subtle tartness, salinity, and citrus help detract from the syrupy weight of it. Definitely undercarbonated. It looks completely still at this point, and while it isn't, it's severely lacking in effervescence.
My second offering from Harpoon thus far, and admittedly, I'm not terribly impressed. I love a genuine quality gose, and this just doesn't hit the mark for me. A good entry level sour for the American adjunct lager drinker. A fancy sour Miller.

A very good lime gose I didn't like it as much as Victory's version but it was still a clean mix of citrus and lime with a good dose of sour and salty. Would have it again.

 

 

This one pours a hazy and cloudy yellow color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells really solid, with some salinity, tart lime, minerals, and citrus.

This is surprisingly pretty taste- it's pretty creamy, with a great balance between sour and sweet lime and citrus flavors, with just a touch of salt on the finish.

This is super drinkable, with a surprisingly full body, and a nice level of drinkability.

This is easily one of the better Harpoon beers I've had in a bit. It's really well done.

 

From the 12 fl. oz. can with an enjoy by date of 10/15/18. Sampled on August 11,2018.

The appearance is a cloudy looking yellow with a short lived fizzy white head.

There is a lot of lime on the nose followed by a spritzer of citrus and white breaded malts. It smells clean too.

The mouthfeel is light

I'm not sure if the lime and the salt are supposed to offset or compliment each other but the salt bounces forth first in the taste while the lime comes up from behind. It leads to a tart finish. Eh, not my thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harpoon Brewery "Lime-y Vice"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle, "Enjoy By 00:01 07/15/18 059"
$1.83 @ Cherry Hill One, Liquor & Beer (Wegmans), Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Horrible name, and stupid notes on the back label. Whatever. It's poured a hazy yellow gold body beneath a surprisingly large head of bright white foam given that it's a sour beer. It also appears to have very good, even excellent, retention given that fact. Let's see if the aroma can match it... not bad! It's mineralish, mildly malty, subtly lime-like, and just slightly suggestive of tartness. There could be more to it but at the same time it's very clean which is more than an acceptable trade-off, so... so good so far. On to the flavor... as expected given the aroma. It's not that tart, there's some sweetness to the malt that balances it, and there's not a lot of lime flavor there, but I can live with it - that's from natural flavors by the way. Perhaps more importantly concerning the balance of the beer, there's not too much salt, and in fact it's pretty mild. That coupled with the cleanness of it, the minimal tartness, and the delicate residual sweetness leaves it quite mainstream but still very nicely balanced and refreshing... I think I can forgive them for the goofy name! So what did I miss? Mouthfeel? It's medium bodied leaning towards medium-light, and gently crisp with a fine-bubbled, mildly effervescent carbonation. Overall a pleasant and refreshing summer beer that's slightly different and a nice change of pace.
Review# 6,123

 

 

L: Cloudy, almost opaque gold with a fluffy white head. Good retention for a gose; a ring always remains. Very little lacing, however.

S: Candied lime/limeade, powdered limeade/lemonade mix, lime zest, orange peel, dough.

T: Moderate limeade with lime zest upfront, sweet and sugary at first, but then trailing off to a faint lime peel bitterness. Only lightly tart for a Gose, and only faintly salty. Creamy and doughy malt, with a clean and lightly dry finish.

F: Lightly creamy upfront, moderately carbonated, trailing off to a light finish.

 

 

Cloudy, dirty gold color. Modest head which leaves little lace (a couple of spots).

Yup, lots of lime to the smell. It really dominates so I cannot detect any other aromas.

The taste has more balance with a solid malt beginning. The lime is still dominant but the flavor is growing in me and isn't as novel ad when I first started. This is a refreshing beer that probably most resembles a Mexican amber with a lime wedge.

 

 

 

Lots of lime flavor but there is a really odd floral element going on (much more so than other lime beers I've had) which detracts from the overall enjoyment for me.

 

Delicious, tart and refreshing. I am a huge fan of the color, reminds me of pale orange juice. Very drinkable and light, would love to see Harpoon release it in a 6 pack for the beach this summer