Measuring a Summer's Day: Tangelino by Hop Haus Brewing & Vintage Brewing

Back in late June Scott Manning from Vintage Brewing made a trek out to Verona where he met up with Phil Hoechst, brewmaster of Hop Haus to ostensibly brew a collaboration beer. But, from my experience, these so-called "collaborations" are nothing more than excuses for brewers to get drunk and shoot the shit with one another while they bark orders at minions to do the real work. And some lucky brewers get to leave their brewhouse for a spell. They are the brewing equivalent of the kaffeeklatch which surely makes such an event a bierklatch.

The end result of that early summer wang dang doodle was a beer called Tangelino. Scott described it to me as a hybrid brew that was part APA and part saison. "Brewed with clementines and cubeb peppercorns. Aged on pureed Tangelos and dry hopped with Citra and Waimea hops." It had been a long time since I last cooked with cubebs so I was really keen on trying this brew.

Cubebs are a Javanese peppercorn. I am not sure if it originated in Indonesia or simply flourished there. Regardless, it was a staple spice in medieval Europe. To my taste, it's like black pepper but with a little citrus to it and I think it would be wonderful in a pilsner should any brewing types out there need a challenge.

I had to look up Waimea hops and found that they had the aroma of "intense tangelo". Tangelino is a just a citrus fiesta with real fruit as well as fruity hops. However, I knew none of this on a recent visit to the Hop Haus. If memory serves, the menu simply described Tangelino as a "citrus saison".

Tangelino poured a hazy yellow. My glass of it was part of a flight and, by the time I got it to our table, it had only smattering of white foam on top. There were a few bubbles to be had inside.

The beer's aroma was full of doughy, malt sweetness interlaced with overtones of allspice from the cubebs. Ha! I keed, I keed. It was first and foremost a blast of citrus. I'd imagine that if I ever were to take a tour of the Tropicana factory, it would smell like this. Behind the Citric Wall was some sweetly scented tropical fruit as well as a little grass/earthiness which I took to be the cubebs fighting their way out from behind all that fruit.

It should hardly comes as a surprise that Tangelino had a big citrus taste. But it was sweet rather than tart. I don't know that I've ever had a tangelo so I cannot honestly say how much of the flavor was that fruit vs the Clementines vs. the hops. Think sweet, juicy orange/tangerine as opposed to grapefruit or lemon. There was a modicum of bitterness and some honeyed sweetness which tasted malty. As the beer warmed the cubebs came out of the shadows and added a nice, mellow pepper flavor.

The fruit and sweetness fade to a dry, wine-like finish laced with a spicy bitterness and some zesty pepper from the cubebs. A couple large patches of foam lined my glass along with specks everywhere.

As someone who avoids Citra hops and citrus eyepahs like The Plague, I thought Tangelino was a fine beer...for me to poop on!

I keed, I keed.

As someone who avoids Citra hops and citrus eyepahs like The Plague, I thought Tangelino was pretty tasty. My wife and I agreed, however, that it wasn't very saison-like, at least as far as our amateur palates were concerned. It didn't have the fruity yeasty flavors that we associate with the style. Still, there was French saison yeast used here. I probably could have quaffed a whole pint, though that would likely be my quota. It reminded me of Wisconsin Brewing Company's Nectarine and S'Wheat Caroline in that all three beers have a lager-like malt taste – clean with no yeasty flavors getting in the way of fruit-flavored hops and, in this case, real fruit.

I was surprised at how Tangelino retained a fairly light body amidst all the fruity sweetness. It never got cloying and I think this is at least partly due to the carbonation, the dry finish, and the cubebs which offered an earthy contrast to all the citrus. At 7.3% A.B.V. Tangelino has some heft but it drinks like a much lighter brew and really hit the spot on a summer's day.

Junk food pairing: If you're keen on emphasizing the fruit then get your hands on a box of Hostess Orange Cup Cakes and amp up the citrus sweetness. Personally I would help out the underdog cubebs and pair Tangelino with salt and pepper potato chips.

An APA by Any Other Name Would Smell As Bitter: Vacation Request by Capital Brewery

I first tasted Vacation Request back in August at a pre-Great Taste event where I also got to chat with Capital Brewery's brewmaster Ashley Kinart. I found her to an affable person so, if you get the chance to talk to her, do so.

I'm not sure if this beer was meant as a one-off or if it sold poorly and has been flushed down the memory hole because I can find nary a reference to it at Capital's website. Bottles appeared on store shelves not long after my sampling above which means this beer dates to late August or early September at the very latest. For a beer described as a "Light-bodied ale brewed with Mandarina Bavaria and Lemondrop hops", I am probably doing it a disservice by drinking it now but so it goes. I'll be gentle.

Honestly, I don't know how to classify Vacation Request stylistically. I suppose that, if Kinart felt it to be an IPA, Capital would have advertised it as such considering the marketing value of "India" and "IPx" these days. Perhaps after tasting the beer's taxonomy will become clearer.

The Mandarina Bavaria hop is a rather recent invention having been introduced in 2012. Hailing from Germany, it's part of a wave of Teutonic hops that mimic popular American varieties with predominant citrus and other fruit aromas and flavors. See also Saphir and Hüll Melon hop varieties. Lemondrop hops, on the other hand, are born and bred in Washington state and appear to have become widely available only last year.

Vacation Request pours a light gold hue that is just a touch hazy. This was one effervescent brew as I got a big, firm, white head that would have lasted until 2017 had I not poured it into my waiting maw. There were countless bubbles inside my glass making their way upwards.

It was quite unsurprising that the beer's aroma was dominated by bright lemon and citrus scents. There was also a hint of the herbal underneath, however. A "citrus hopped ale" indeed. Those aromas translated into the taste. Big lemon (Lemondrop) and tangerine (Mandarina Bavaria) flavors burst forth onto the tongue. These flavors were not, however, very zesty. Instead they were rounded and mellow in the same way that citrus scents in dish soaps lack a sharpness. Concomitant to this, the hops also provided a pronounced herbal bitterness and a faint floral taste too. There was a hint of the malt in a bread-like taste as well as a hint of earthy rye spiciness. Lastly there was carbonation which added a nice dry counterpoint to the festival of citrus.

Those citrus flavors faded in the finish and were superseded by the herbal taste and some bitterness to ultimately end on a fairly clean, dry note. My glass was left with a lot of lacing. There was a surfeit of thick webbing along with a smattering of dense patches.

Although I give Kinart credit for putting rye into this beer, the truth is that the malt is deemphasized here. To me, this along with a paucity of yeast flavors makes Vacation Request an American IPA or an APA. Despite the fact that my tasting did not involve the freshest beer, Vacation Request still managed to deliver big, bold hop flavors. All of that citrus gave the brew a sprightly taste that was underpinned by some herbal bitterness and the sharp, earthy rye. I liked the flavors of the hops themselves although I'd like to try fresher brews with them. And while not a fatal flaw, I have to admit that I do wish that there was more malt here. Ultimately I find beers where the grains are the brewing equivalent of the Washington Generals to be fine in small doses but unsatisfying in the long haul. I'd rather that the hops get something substantial to play off of and meld with rather than being considered an end in and of themselves. Still, Vacation Request was tasty and a nice introduction to two new hop varieties.

Junk food pairing: Pair Vacation Request with Chipotle Cheddar Pretzel Crisps. The pretzels and the salt will add a little body to the proceedings with the light beer while the light touch of smoke complements the citrus flavors of the beer very well.