Sunshiny clear-yellowed, cumulous headed double dry-hopped IPA utilizes winning Citra-Mosiac-Amarillo hop combo for crushable easygoing serenity. Lemony orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess settles softly above delicate wheated oat spine. Wispy pineapple, tangerine and peach daubs the delicate light-bodied sedation.
Fancier fruited pale ale is well designed IPA derivation. Juicy grapefruit-peeled orange rind zestfulness embraces salty white wining and floral-spiced pineapple, mandarin and peach illusions plus mild gooseberry-guava snips as piney Amarillo-Centennial hop herbage gains mild cannabis resin to contrast bright Citra-Nelson Sauvin hop tropicalia above honey-malted French breading.
Juicy tropical abundance of double dry hopped NEIPA forwards zesty lemon thrust to tangy orange-peeled grapefruit and pineapple zing before letting salty mango-guava-papaya conflux add sour edge. Grassy hop resin, herbal residue and mild pine burrow into lacquered citrus finish. Creamily oated rye base stays firm.
Sessionable tropical IPA sways to the New England side as salted citrus souring and creamily honeyed oats fortify zesty moderation. Muted lemon lime brining, delicate grapefruit-peeled orange tang and tart green grape, guava, papaya and kumquat souring pick up minor herb-licked pine resin, retaining subdued fruited bitterness at the silken yogurt-milked finish.
Cryo-hopped Cascade, Centennial and Chinook varietals bring salt-licked herbal citrus spicing to dry wood tones and mild alcohol burn. Lemony grapefruit and pineapple tang lingers pleasantly.
Easygoing dry-hopped pils is one of the lightest sessionable summertime suds ever. Spritzy lemon liming and tannic green grape esters gain peachy guava tease as well as herbal honeysuckle tea restraint over mild cracker-salted pilsner malting. Smooth, light, breezy, effervescent.
Awesomely rich mocha dessert treat! Bittersweet black chocolate syrup drapes maple brown sugaring for viscous mahogany-browned full body. Milk chocolate continuance gains fudged dark toffee, molasses-sapped coffee, cappuccino, caramel macchiato and cafe latte illusions contrasted by less profound wood-burnt hop char above honeyed Graham Cracker base. Way below surface, mild anise, prune, raisin and hazelnut illusions flutter.
Combining dry Hallertau-hopped green grape esters with sharp Amarillo-hopped lemon candied yellow grapefruit tang gives offbeat kolsch a sour IPA twist while retaining stylishly crisply clean pilsner-malted white bread bottom.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Banishing grief from a person’s mind via Homer’s Odyssey, NEPENTHE BREWING COMPANY will cure your ills with a well-respected, ever-evolving lineup of diversified beers. Next to Extra Space Storage, the commodious gray-bricked warehouse pub in the northern Baltimore mill town hamlet of Hampden (near Johns Hopkins University) took over a former sportsbar and opened for biz January 2019.
Alongside fashion boutiques and vintage shops, Nepenthe’s part of the entirely overhauled main drag. A 10-barrel brewhouse with two draught stations servicing sixteen taps, its twenty-seat marble top bar stretches across one side and ten community tables and several leveled tables fill out the plank wood-floored, pipe-exposed, red brick-walled interior.
An open kitchen serves fine pub cuisine. A large blackboard beer list centers the bar and two opposing TV’s provide further entertainment.
I tried one rich stout and a busy IPA variant on my December ’22 stopover, then downed seven more goodies thereafter (reviewed in Beer Index).
Part of an ongoing series, Spontaneous Deviations #2: Red West Coast IPA chameleonically combined an amber-grained red ale with a dry-wooded Cascadian Dark Ale. Its charcoaled Simcoe/Amarillo/Chinook-hopped pining surfaced alongside lightly embittered grapefruit, jammy red grape and sprucy juniper tones above bitter cocoa bean insistence.
Dutch cocoa powdered pistachio and almond roast gains Madagascar vanilla beaning for richly creamed Aphotic Run, an intriguingly mocha-nutted Imperial Stout with tarry hop char and flaked oats spine as well as setback almond biscotti, Amaretto, espresso and cafe latte illusions.