Beers in Review: A Pair of NEIPAs
In today’s write-up, we are checking out two Hazy/New England-style IPAs, including this first beer in which I am drinking the beer AS I WRITE THE REVIEW!
From Captain Lawrence Brewing Company, north of NYC, comes Interstellar Fog, a NEIPA double dry-hopped with Comet and Citra hops. The beer is a cloudy gold-ish color with tons of suspended sediment throughout the glass. What little head there was during and just after the pour dissipated after having sat for about 10 minutes. The beer is fairly heavy on the tongue and initially presents citrus and citrus rind notes, especially orange and especially grapefruit. Some more tropical fruit notes present later on, with a little bit of a peppery/spicy note as well, with a very slight hop bite towards the very end. To me, the spicy notes get more intense as I drink more, and start to linger into what was a fairly clean finish and aftertaste. I feel a good amount of that comes from the increased amounts of sediment in later sips. It doesn’t play anywhere near its ABV (8.5%), making this a deliciously dangerous New England IPA. (Note: I could not find this beer on the Captain Lawrence website, making its continued existence questionable. There is a Galactic Fog [double dry-hopped with Galaxy instead of Comet/Citra] listed with an identical ABV level and similar ratings across a some of the review sites, for what that’s worth. Just be aware.)
Next is an offering from Asheville, North Carolina’s Bhramari Brewing Company, Neon Ghosts IPA. Neon Ghosts clocks in at 6.4% ABV, and pours a very hazy golden color. Plenty of nice fruit notes inhabit the flavor profile, most notably some orange and various tropical fruits. There was a fair amount of pepper in there, as well. The beer has a decent hop bite, but I found it to be fairly balanced overall.