First off, thanks to Jay over at BiteAndBooze.com for hooking me up with this one as a Christmas present! I've seen it at Calandro's lately and also at The Cove so here's a review while it's still on the shelves and available! Epic is a brewery out of New Zealand that is fairly new to our market, but they have put out some really good beers. For those that watched Brew Masters, the New Zealand collaboration beer was between Dogfish Head and Epic, so you might remember the brewery from there!
Now for this beer... I poured from a .5L bottle into an imperial pint... it's remarkably clear, with a frothy white head that takes up 1/4 or so of the glass on the pour. Really nice retention and some of the best lacing I've seen in a while. Good looking beer.
The aroma is expectedly hoppy with a hint of the barrel aging. The wood flavors come through more each time I stick my nose in but they still are the secondary flavor in this aroma.
The barrel aging comes through a lot stronger on the taste, but I'm not sure it's entirely a good thing. It's not bad but I sense a little confusion and competing rather than augmenting the natural style. It gives the beer too much going on rather than the right amount of flavor complexity in my opinion.
It's got good carbonation with a strong grapefruit hop finish. I'm enjoying this one for sure but it's not 'world class' just a good beer. This one, along with Epic's other brews, are definitely worth checking out if you want to try something different.
The aroma is expectedly hoppy with a hint of the barrel aging. The wood flavors come through more each time I stick my nose in but they still are the secondary flavor in this aroma.
The barrel aging comes through a lot stronger on the taste, but I'm not sure it's entirely a good thing. It's not bad but I sense a little confusion and competing rather than augmenting the natural style. It gives the beer too much going on rather than the right amount of flavor complexity in my opinion.
It's got good carbonation with a strong grapefruit hop finish. I'm enjoying this one for sure but it's not 'world class' just a good beer. This one, along with Epic's other brews, are definitely worth checking out if you want to try something different.
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