Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Lilja's Hop Nest Monster - Pangaea Brewing Company

I love the name of this beer - hoping that the taste will be the same. I've never in my life heard of Pangaea Brewing Company, but it must be a Wisconsin brew since I got it from the Old Fashioned BYO 6-pack

Vitals:

Name: Lilja's Hop Nest Monster
Style: American IPA
IBU: 77
ABV: 7.0%
Gravity: 17 deg. Plato
Purchased at: The Old Fashioned (BYO 6-Pack)

Descriptions:

Appearance: The beer pours a dirty straw color, lighter than I would expect from an IPA. The head on this beer is bone-white and reminds me on a meringue topping on a pie. This may be the most unfiltered beer I've ever seen or else it might be infected (yeast problem...insert jokes here)

Smell: Slightly floral smell with mostly grassy hops and toasted malts; maybe a bit grainy. The smell was not what I expected, much less strong than a normal IPA.

Taste: WOW! Full on frontal assault with the grassy hops, this beer certainly lives up to its name in that respect. The bitterness lingers for a long time, though I must say there's not much actual hop flavor, just the bitterness, which is a detractor since you get no complexity. The beer isn't very balanced at all, which is surprising given the grainy malt smell. Lemon and flowers come through a bit as the beer builds to the hop bitterness; you only get a small taste of the toasted malts (thus the imbalance).

Mouthfeel: This beer is medium bodied, but extremely oily and astringent. The beer really dries your mouth out AS you're drinking it, while most astringent beers I've had do that after you finish your sip. I really wonder if this beer is filtered AT ALL - there is a TON of debris that is suspended in the beer.

Overall Grade: B-

Comments: I LOVE LOVE LOVE hops, but this beer just had no balance and wasn't doing it for me. I would drink this every once in a while to see if there's any degree of consistency to this beer, especially to see if the debris thing remains a problem. There are definitely better IPAs out there, go and find one!

Cheers,
Hurls

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