Backlog entry pours from flip top growler. Pours out golden topped with a white head. Nose is citrus hops some tropical fruit notes and a light sweet malt. Taste is more of the nice fruit hops sweet caramel malts with ripe tropical fruit.

Originally reviewed on 7/26/2012. On tap at Willard’s Tap House. Served in a tulip. Very hazy orange. Nearly completely opaque. Nice fluffy white head that leaves some lovely lacing. Tropical fruit hop aroma. Floral, too. Hefty sweet malt aroma as well. Juicy tropical fruit taste. Orange and mango. Sugary malts back it up. Maybe a touch too sweet. Bitter finish. A bit heavy. Just a bit too sweet and just a bit too bitter. Otherwise, quite nice. A tasty treat to find in Florida. Maybe not Hill Farmstead’s best IPA, but better than nearly everything down here.

FROM NOTES: July 3, ’12 Poured into a HF tulip at the Hill Farmstead Brewery. A: Smells of pungent citric hops, tropical fruits; most notably mango and grapefruit; and lightly toasted caramel malt. Light sweetness adds balance to the juicy hops. A: Pours murky golden orange with a small, fluffy, one-finger width white head leaving light lace down the glass. T: Starts off with a big citric hop bite fading to a mix of tropical fruits and sweet caramel malt. The balance isn’t as good here but it is still easily manageable. A dry finish that lingers for quite awhile. P: Medium body with moderate carbonation. Smooth, hoppy, feel that leaves the pallet dry after each sip. O: What is there to say that hasn’t already been said about Shaun’s beers. He does hoppy better than anybody and this one is no different.

750 mL growler sent by Tucker, shared with my father. Pours a milky, cloudy golden orange color with a massive, frothy white head. Light carbonation with a retentive, bubbly finger thick layer throughout and dry, sticky webs of lacing. Creamy orange and pine aroma, with light vanilla. Balance of sweet and bitter leaning more toward the juicy orange and creamy sweet, than bitter pine and resin. Flavor is dominated by hops, but nowhere near as bitter as Abner or Ephraim, instead more juicy and sweet. There is a vanilla-like, creamsicle quality to the flavor which balances out the orange, red grapefruit and tangerine juiciness. Mild resin in the finish, but still pleasantly sweet. Fairly thick and robust body with moderate carbonation; more creamy than chewy. Could use a little more bitterness and crispness in the flavor and finish, but this is exceptionally drinkable and refreshing and drinks much easier than the 9.2% ABV would suggest.

Shared by yourefragile. Thanks Michael. The beer is hazy and yellow with a thin white head. The aroma offers booze, tropical fruits, hops. Good flavor, smooth on the palate with some warming alcohol throughout. Tropical fruits are pleasant, but somewhat masked by booze. Still, a nice flavor. Lingering fruit, booze, and just a mild bitterness. Another solid beer from Hill Farmstead, though not among my favorites from this brewery. ***revisited this beer on my current vacation through the lovely state of Vermont. This review is a drastic upgrade - wow, what a beer - and close to the source. On draft at Prohibition Pig in Waterbury, VT. The beer appears a radiant, golden yellow hue, like the sun. Beautiful color. The head is approximately an inch thick, appearing pure white and leaving a thick sheet of sticky lacing on the snifter. The aroma offers a bouquet of citrus. Tropical notes including mango, pineapple, oranges. The flavor is simply outstanding. Wow. A tropical fruit bomb with nary a hint of alcohol. A delicate bitterness in the finish with lingering citrus and hops. Stunning. Medium bodied and chuggable. I highly recommend this brew.

Cheese, sweet corn. Like a cave aged baby Swiss, this is sweet first then slightly funky and lactic. Very good pale hoppy flavor, too.

Draft at Capone’s. Poured turbid gold with white head and a lot of carbonation. Nose was intense resiny hops, tropical citrus, including tangerine, pineapple, and quite a bit of funk. Tasted rich, extremely complex, with big flavors of tropical citrus fruit, piney hops, some funk, and a very complex finish. This one is delicious.

Enjoyed on tap at the Black Back pub. Cloudy grapefruit coloured body. Apparently with rice and Brett. A good mouthfeel. Lots of orange taste. Very smooth drinker.

375ml growler courtesy of JeepCop. Poured into a snifter. 4.0 A: Opaque brownish yellow color. Two and a half fingers of white, pillowy/creamy head. Retention is good and a decent amount of lacing is left. 4.0 S: This has a raw, fresh hop vibe in the nose. It smells like I’ve shoving my face in some hops right before throwing them into the boil. Primarily floral with earthy and grassy secondary. Yeasty with bready malts. Very nice. 4.0 T: Tastes like it smells. Raw, resiny hops that focus on floral, earthy, and grassy flavors. Moderate yeasty breadiness. Very light sugariness. Light bitterness. I’d prefer this to be a bit cleaner and less yeasty, but it’s still pretty good. 3.5 M: Heavier medium to heavy body. Good carbonation, especially from a growler. Reasonably creamy. The thing that I’m not a fan of is that this is a bit too chewy for my liking. 4.0 D: Another more than solid beer from HF. This has a lot of the things that I don’t like in a DIPA (big yeasty breadiness, chewy mouthfeel) and still manages to get a good score out of me. Serving type: growler Reviewed on: 08-11-2012 01:03:42

Growler... Murky golden ale with both small and fat bubbles. Good retention. The aroma is dominated by dank, musky, armpit-like hops with an undercurrent of pale malt. Medium-bodied with soft carbonation. The flavor offers a bounty of citrusy, tannic bitterness with a pale malt backbone and a subtle bready component. Finishes lightly sweet, then bitter and dry. Big-time kudos to biggsbowler for making it possible for me to finally try the fourth and final beer in this Cigar City/Grassroots/Hill Farmstead collaboration.