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Sam Adams New England IPA

This beer pours a glorious hazy orange with a frothy off white head, leaves some lovely lacing on the glass as well. The aroma is a fairly muted, slight tropical fruit, grapefruit peel, citrus, with a slight grassy, onion undertone. Compared to the New England IPAs that this beer is supposedly modeled after, it definitely lacks that amazing juicy peach, ripe melon, citrus explosion that you'd get from the more "hype" examples of this style. This beer tasted a lot more bitter than we expected, tons of pithy bitterness with some grassy, dank hop flavor. A lot of people have been saying this beer has a very classic Sam Adam's yeast profile to it, and honestly it's the first Sam Adam's beer we've drank in quite some time, but it definitely had a much more pillowy mouthfeel than expected.

Overall, this beer far exceeded expectations but by no means was an amazing example of the New England IPA style. I can see a lot of people complaining that it isn't hazy enough, but I think it more misses the mark on bitterness. The beer certainly lacked the soft hop flavors and low bitterness that exemplify the style. As the hazy IPA trend extends out from the depths of craft beer culture and into the mass market, I think the beers will look and taste a lot more like this Sam Adam's than like Monkish, Treehouse, or Trillium beers.