Beer # 295 Juicin' New England IPA Sawdust City Brewing Company

Beer # 295 Juicin' New England IPA 
Fever Dream Series

Sawdust City Brewing Company

Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery Established 2012
New England India Pale Ale
ABV 6.3 %  IBU: 45
Aluminium Can 500 ml.
$3.50 (Canadian) At the The Brewery

Twitter @SawdustCityBeer

Back Again with another Sawdust City beer. Certainly not a brewery to rest on their laurels they continue to push boundaries and try new things. Their stable of beers is filling up fast. First there was the five core beers, then the regular seasonals like Blood of Cthulhu, The Princess Wears Girlpants, Long Dark Voyage to Uranus, Twin Pines, 11/05, and Sägemehl Stadt Oktoberfest beer. Then Came the Winewood Series which was barrel aged beers, and now a new series has emerged, "Fever Dream." There isn't any word on what the theme of fever dream is but we can easily guess it is about bringing some fantasies to reality. The first beer in the series is Juicin' a "New England IPA." and the second is coming out on December 1st and it will be "Hygge", a sour Belgian Tripel with black plums. Wait a minute, what's a New England IPA you might ask. Well I'm glad you did... because I had to ask too. 

New England IPA has it's mythical roots at a Vermont Brewery called The Alchemist in Stowe Vermont. Perhaps you may have heard about one of their beers called "Heady Topper." Heady Topper was a style onto itself, cloudy, unfiltered, soft, balanced, fruity, and soft on bitterness. Heady Topper is one of the most consistently, highest rated beers on Ratebeer.com and as One person put it "... it would be easier to find "Champ" the Lake Champlain monster than a can of Heady Topper." Heady Topper strangely is not a limited release; although the hours long line up at retailers to buy a single can, would beg to differ. The Alchemist makes 10,000 barrels of it a year, and it does not make it any farther than 25 miles from the brewery. They plan to open a second facility to brew another 10,000 barrels, I doubt it would get much farther. It was originally only on tap, but a rash of Beer Pirating (yes you read that right...) forced them to start canning Heady Topper on their own. It was said that people were going into bars buying a pint of Heady, and taking it to the bathroom to bottle and cap. They would then download artwork from the website print a label and then sell the pirated beer on e-Bay (Um... bathroom beer? ugh...no thanks). Still to this day, retailers sell out their allotment of 80 to 100 cases  in less than an hour. Why? Simple. This was the first New England IPA. 

Now the term New England IPA is not really officially recognised yet, and it is not a term that was developed by the brewing industry. It is more of a "Fan Name." Often you will hear it called "Vermont IPA," and there was some discussion that it should be named that for the state of it's origin, but by this time it had grown beyond just Vermont and "New England IPA" kinda has a good ring to it. So New England IPA began to grow with other breweries trying to experiment with the style. Eventually it made its way here... to Ontario and into the minds of the brew-master at Sawdust City. This is their take on the new style.

Onward ho, to New England...

Pours a cloudy light gold with a good white head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is a rich tapestry of tropical fruit, with peaches hints of grass and some light breadiness. First sip is heaps of fruit and a light sweetness with  citrus pineapple and peach. Malt is light and airy, subtle grassiness, toasted oats and a light hoppy spice. Aeration gives us a creamy mouthfeel hints of grain some hay some malt a black pepper. 

 Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order:  5/6  PASS

Experience: 5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

This beer is delicious. I certainly haven't had another New England IPA to compare it to, but if this is a good representation of the style, I want to correct that immediately. I may have to venture down to Stowe Vermont and try my luck in line for one of the Heady Toppers. But, if I can't, I will be satisfied with one or two more of these. And if you can find one of these, try it and see what all the fuss is about. Just don't buy any on e-Bay... (bathroom beer, remember?)
Cheers

CJT

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