New Holland Existential Hopwine

Pours out an amber color with nearly no head. This thing had a nice aroma and flavor, but with nearly no carbonation, the flavor becomes less than exciting. Alcohol we asll hidden, but this one was simply missing somethings.

Copper red pour. I was almost through with New Holland, but they had some interesting offerings at the Great Taste, and so I decided to buy this one, since I love hops and this is marketed as a hop forward barleywine. Very minimal head. Candied hop aroma. I do like this quite a bit. Probably roams into the American Strong Ale category, essentially between a barleywine and IIPA. I f this was a little more carbonated it would venture into the great to world class category. As it is, I will give it a solid score.

Bottle. Pours out a orange color with no head at all. I thought the beer was going to be dead, but it turns out that it is just very lightly carbonated. Not a bad thing really. Smells like hops, malts, some grass, caramel, and a little bit of fruits. Interesting beer, not sure I have smelled anything like this. Taste is sweet and fruity with plenty of hops and A LOT of alcohol. Its pretty much an abv bomb, but once the mouth is used to it, its actually pretty drinkable. Unusually smooth to be 11%. Not bad stuff, but its not better than Night Tripper. Still - Good stuff here, worth trying.

Copper pour with a frothy, lasting white head and good lacing. Toasty caramel pine and grapefruit aroma. More toasted caramel malt in the flavor with hints of mango, grapefruit, pepper and dates. Creamy medium-full body with soft carbonation.

Bottle pours hazy copper with a thin off white head. Aroma is of sweet malts with a hint of orange citrus. Flavor starts sweet caramel malts and citrus. Finishes with strong bitter floral hops presence, pine, and good alcohol burn.

I picked this bomber up at Green’s in Greenville, South Carolina. The color of the beer was copper, the body clear, and the head quite small. For a beer with a silk screened hop cone on the label, the smell was quite subdued. I could pick up some distant earthy and citric hops, but its was nothing to rave about. The taste was much hoppier, as the spicy and bitter flavors were apparent immediately. The malt was skeletal in nature and provided a stable but unspectacular foundation. The alcohol was completely hidden, and this one drank like many IPAs rather than the barleywine strength it really was. In the mouth, this felt, oily, slippery, and mercurial. This was a very unique creation indeed, but I found it somewhat empty.

22 oz. bomber bottle. Pours clear bright amber, with a very small, short lasting large bubble head. Aroma is mostly citrusy and more like a double or triple IPA than a barleywine. Aroma also includes some smoky phenolics as it warms. More of a malt backbone in the flavor, though still dominated by syrupy citrus hops. Balances dry/bitter and is pretty hot in the finish.

22oz bottle. Wow, this is not what I was expecting, but it’s good! Pours slightly hazy amber with a whispy white head. Smells sweet and syrupy malty with a spicy hop backbone. Tastes very sweet and malty with a spicy hop flavor and a solid burning alcohol presence. Full, syrupy body with good carbonation.