Taking the middle-of-the-road approach, soft-focus IPA stays more tropical fruited than hop embittered. Sweetly spiced pineapple, orange, cantaloupe, melon, mango and green anjou pear fruiting brightens mild lemony grapefruit tartness and piney cedar-spruce resin.
Lively, crisp, easygoing Halloween treat brings luxurious pumpkin pie spicing to mild honeyed barley backbone. Cinnamon-toasted gingerbread, nutmeg, coriander and allspice decorate sweet-seasoned medium-bodied fare. Vanilla, sassafras and sugared yam illusions make cameos. On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead – Hoboken, 2016 draught version’s pumpkin puree-spiced gingerbread sweetness increased by a hair.
Pleasant amber-reddish IPA takes the softer approach. Well-balanced medium body combines nutty pine comb resonance with molasses-breaded sugaring and moderated dried fruiting (scoffing typical stylistic citric pining). Bitter earthen hop graining lightened by delicate water base. Pecan, hazelnut and butternut illusions make deeper impression than tertiary black cherry, fig, raisin and prune reminders.
Lighter stylistic permutation with palest copper-hazed turbidity retains moderated grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and resinous dry-hopped pine tarring. At the citric finish, lemon-seeded pineapple tartness increases above corn-sugared crystal malting, earthen mineral graining and floral hibiscus-lotus notions.
Spirited rye-malted IPA just a touch bitterer than brewers’ 420 Extra Pale. Bright red, yellow and orange fruits coat the sharp spice-hopped earthen wood finish. Pink and ruby red grapefruit tartness juices up tangy apricot, tangerine, pineapple and pear fare over toasted rye malts. Floral aspect lurks beneath stone, tropical and citric fruiting.
‘Stimulating’ Extra Pale Ale celebrates West Coast Kind Bud with its piney cannibis-oiled hop resin and refreshingly bright citric waft. Mild wood-toned grapefruit peel bittering contrasts floral orange, tangerine, peach and mango tang as well as creamy crystal malts to baguette backdrop. Incredibly sessionable.
Astonishingly transformative reddish-browned lenten rauchbier betters tremendous competition with its distinct beechwood-kilned smoked malting, blanketed cured meat sear and peaty challah-breaded amber lagering. Molasses-honeyed bacon grease, glazed ham and salami illusions deeply penetrate the sooty campfire-singed hickory char gripping the backend. Stylistic Band-aid waft awaits.
On tap at Proletariat, refreshing straw-paled dry-hopped light body is tribute to famed wrestler Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Musky rye breading and orange-oiled herbal notions outfit the freshly-picked Saaz hops, picking up grassy barnyard acridity by the husked grain finish. Serve to Extra Special Bitter fans as well as discriminate hop heads.
