A few months back, Tyler at Barn Hammer stopped by my place as he was on his way back to Winnipeg, so he brought by a care package of a variety of the breweries of beers for me to sample! Most of the beers he sent me are now available in Brandon as of a few weeks ago (Le Sneak Belgique, Lousy Beatnik), and also a seasonal that was selling like hotcakes at the brewery, 66 New England IPA. 66 is described as creamy, hazy & juicy. Citrus fruit aroma & tropical fruit flavour. Low sweetness with a dry lingering finish. 6.6% ABV, 37 IBU. New Englands are still all the rage right now so it's not surprising that Barn Hammer would come out with their own.
Appearance: Even before I got to try a sip of this beer, Tyler told me this must be served in a glass as there's a good amount of grittiness to this beer (he wasn't wrong when I ended up sampling some from the can itself). The beer pours a hefty, cloudy orange body with a light amount of carbonation taking place in the body, and a good amount of off-white head to start off that eventually diminishes to mostly glass lacing and a quarter finger's worth of head on top of the beer.
Aroma: Good amount of tropical fruitiness followed by a rich yeasty profile to it. The beer has aromas of pineapple, lime, mango. There's a hefty yeastiness that gives off a good bread dough aroma to it, and a bit of a grassy hop profile to it at the end.
Taste: Sweet, dry, slight creaminess and tropical fruitiness - pineapple, lime and mango are popping up here again. There's a bit of a grassy hop profile, a good amount of a doughy yeast flavour, and a light metallic aftertaste at the very end.
Overall Thoughts: While not quite as over the top juicy sweet as most New England IPAs, this was completely refreshing, and now whenever I see this beer anywhere I'll have it on tap (like at Common at the Forks). Once you add the last bit of beer remaining from the can, the beer gets even thicker and looks like OJ with a bit of sediment in it. I haven't been able to try any of Kilter's New England IPAs yet.. so for now, this is the best Manitoban NE IPA I've had so far. I think this should be part of Barn Hammer's permanent selection of beers, I've been buying a can or two of Saturday Night Lumberjack almost every time I'm at my home base LC lately, but I think I'd buy this more often than say.. Collective Arts' Ransack if this was available in Brandon.
http://barnhammerbrewing.ca/beer/experimental-beers/66-2/
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