Those skirt decals were a massive pain in the ass lol. It’s like 15 separate decals and if you don’t line them up perfectly they get messed up due to curvature. Curse you Kotobukiya. I did an alright job though I think. Handpainted the holes in the non-skirt torso and the bronze filigree type details up top (on back as well). Pretty happy with it so far.
I wouldn’t ever pick Pumpkinhead if I was still drinking, but since Pumking will probably never get an NA version or anything close… this is quite great for what it is! Highly recommended to scratch that late Summer/leading into Fall pumpkin beer itch!
Well, this is gorgeous. In direct opposition to the Sip’N IPA from Lawson’s I had last night, this pours wonderfully with a clear deep amber color with a nice pillowy head of off white foam.
Nose is wonderfully malty with bready notes and some floral, grassy, and lightly fruity hop elements in there. Maybe a touch worty but that makes sense considering the style on display. I’m hoping for a bit of a crisp flavor that doesn’t err too much into the malty side of things, honestly. I can see an NA Märzen getting too chewy for its own good.
Definitely fruity upfront with a bit of caramel maltiness on the tip of the tongue. Mid palate is bready with herbal hoppiness and notes of stone fruit. Chewy and full bodied, which yeah makes sense for style but as I slightly-feared from the nose, it comes across a little too thick and syrupy. Finishes grassy and with a bit more dark fruit (plum mostly) and brown bread. Wish this were a bit more crisp and refreshing, but it works for what it is and I will gladly drink the other five.
Anyone else had? What do you all think??
Was super pumped to go into a store that rarely has anything of note and find this, which had probably just came in considering there was still a ton on shelf!
Pour is, well, ugly. I’ll be straight up and just say this doesn’t look attractive at all. It’s unfiltered and hazy, sure, but it doesn’t have much brightness or shine to it, and the head consists of just a few macro bubbles before sinking down to absolutely nothing in my glass. No legs, no lace… nothin’.
However, the nose is a huge turning point. Holy crap, this smells like Sip of Sunshine!! Huge pithy tangerine and tangelo with sugared grapefruit and something that reminds me of actual ethanol in here. Almost a little scary how close this is to SOS, in all honesty.
Chewy and somehow quite heavy bodied with flavors of grapefruit and juicy orange. A hint of sugary sweetness bolsters the proceedings, and more citrus appears pretty soon after. A bit of bitter pine and dankness in the finish, which lingers for quite a while. This is excellent. I am very impressed, aside from the weak first impression as it’s poured into the glass.
Anyone else had yet?
For 30 calories, this is fantastic. Obviously lighter in body than you’d typically want for a Märzen style but it’s so drinkable and surprisingly complex for what it is.
Pros: fun and fairly simple but unique build especially the ship accoutrements, pre-painted parts for the green accents representing the inner part of the jacket and hood/cowl as well as a couple prepainted gold circular pieces on the ships, very cute, included stand is solid because it’s Good Smile
Cons: shitty articulation (especially in the legs which cannot rotate at all and only have a single bend due to crappy design), kinda meh color accuracy aside from the aforementioned painted parts (I didn’t bother fixing a lot of it, but I did do decals because she looked plain w/o), nothing in the way of options, only one pre-painted face and it’s boring AND the other included faces even though there are three have no interesting expressions + the included eye waterslides are also uninteresting
Overall, classic Plamatea: some good, some bad/meh, but if you like the character then you’ll find something to enjoy here.
Howdy all, been a hot minute since my last NA review so figured I’d throw one out there into the ether. I was up in Maine the past week for work so on my way back I stopped by an NA-only bottle shop in Portsmouth NH (Dry Cellar for those in the area; great place!) and picked up a few new-to-me brews. This happens to be one of them.
I had the stout and APA yesterday and both were very fine but I wasn’t in a reviewing mindset and there was not too much to talk about anyway so this isn’t my first brush with the brewer, but I’ll try to approach this as blindly as possible.
The pour is pretty nice, as the liquid that tumbles into my glass is a finely hazy straw golden color with a cap of retentive and consistent foam on top. As it slowly dissipates to a single finger, it leaves behind great lace and legs, which tend to be indicators of solid hoppiness in the IPA world. The nose is very forward with bright juicy citrus rind and a bit of pine, reminding me of some older school IPAs like Deviant Dale’s or Torpedo. Something in the “Extra IPA” realm that wasn’t quite imperial but still showed off a hoppy aplomb, you know the type (probably).
On the palate this positively explodes with intense dankness and finishes dry as a bone with powerful hop delivery all throughout. Flavors of mango and orange peel appear, with subtle grapefruit pithiness toward the end of each sip. Not as much pine as in the nose, as I was led to believe, but hey this is pretty damn good regardless! The malt backbone is even kinda there before the aforementioned dry finish cancels it out entirely, leading me to feel vindicated in my prior early comparisons to some of the US’ strong IPAs of yore. This is unabashedly old school in approach so if you like that type of thing, this will definitely be up your alley.
Like I said, the APA and stout were totally fine and serviceable for sure. This, however, fucking rocks.
Anyone else had it?
The pour on this is gorgeous, first of all: looks almost bellini-like with a nice frothy, retentive head that lasts for a long time. Good lacing/legs too, especially for a sour.
The nose is pure sour guava candy with all that entails… ever had those hard guava candies? Kinda “catty” thiol element with a grapefruit/pomelo undertone? Yep, it’s here for sure. No lie, this smells super enticing.
Mouthfeel is surprisingly chewy and doesn’t have that super short finish of most sours. Instead, it’s a little heavier but still a touch acidic and pleasantly tart. Flavor profile is obviously quite guava-forward with hints of passionfruit and white wine-like tropical brightness. Bright and very refreshing. A high quality sprightly beverage for increasingly hot days in New England. *pant pant*
Haven’t posted a review in a while but doing a back-to-back with this and Go’s new New School guava sour. Discovered the existence of this the other day thanks to a user on this sub, wanted to order another sixer of Calamansi Downwinder anyway (incredible brew btw, everyone should get some before it goes away), so figured eh why not. Worst thing that happens is it’s just decent like a lot of limited run Athletic IPAs.
For those not in the know, this is a mango habanero IPA. I typically do not like this combo honestly (such as when it features in hot sauces), but maybe it’ll work in an IPA form. The pour is a pretty standard and plain hazy straw golden with a thin head of macro bubbles that quietly and fairly-quickly sinks down to near-nonexistence in my glass. The nose is very pepper forward with bright spice overtones and a hint of tropical fruit. Somewhat dank smelling with a terpene-like quality. As with some other Athletic hoppy beers however, this kinda feels overly restrained so I’m hoping it knocks something out of the park on the palate.
First sip is daaaaamn spicy. Did not expect that habanero to hit as hard as it did. Lingering heat through the mid palate with some light notes of mango and hefty malt doing some work. It’s just not hoppy or tropical enough for me though, honestly. This is a very spicy brew and that’s coming from a hot sauce aficionado! The capsaicin really does sit on the tongue for quite a while after each sip. As it opens up, there’s a little more earthiness and grassy hop flavors but, yeah, it’s more of a pepper focused brew so if that sounds up your alley, you’ll probably dig this. I am not sure I want an entire sixer though, and though it’s *decent*, I wish it appealed to me more. Just doesn’t quite hit what you expect with the fruit and hop additions and isn’t as “lively” as I thought it’d be.
Anyone else had this one yet? Thoughts?
I like how they came out! Looking forward to doing some more soon.
Another day, another Mash Gang beer to drink, er… *chug*. Nah, I’m not gonna sling this back, mostly cuz it’s quite good and worthy of examination. Read on!
Pour is a few SRM lighter than a lot of NA IPAs I’ve seen, a bright yellow with a fair bit of haze. Some sticky lacing appears as the several-finger head dissipates down to a ring. Not a bad looker but pretty much what you’d expect.
This features Citra and El Dorado, so I’m expecting dankness and some melon and/or tropical notes. Unsurprisingly, this provides those in spades upon first sniff, with juicy honeydew, grassiness, and mango leading the charge. This actually features mango too, making this a bit similar to the Journey Juice I had yesterday in adjunct ingredients, but honestly the comparison basically stops there. There’s a LOT more hoppiness to this one, in my opinion, and the waves of bright candied fruit really jump out of the glass.
First thing I notice on the tongue is a big hit of mango with modest bitterness and some additional flavors of piney bitter hop resin and strawberry and watermelon candy. Some slight white grape in there too somehow, to my palate. Body is kind of lighter than I want but that’s kind of the nature of the NA IPA; not a lot of them have the feel of a “leaded” beer but this does come a bit close. I’ve only had a few that really emulate the slick and full bodied feel of a non-NA. This is probably a bit more drinkable than Other Half’s All In but slightly less good than Go’s Disarm (which does achieve a bit more body by way of lactose, mind you). Maybe on par with NAlien Church if we’re doing direct comparisons on a quality scale in the realm of NA hazies. I will gladly drink the other five of these and return to them when possible. Worthy!
Picked up a single of this one today. I recall definitely raising an eyebrow at the idea of an IPA with mango and turmeric (more for the latter than the former obviously) when this dropped on their site and didn’t feel the need or desire to spring for a full sixer so I was happy to find it available in the wild by the can to give it a shot.
The pour is quite nice and vibrant with a lot of fizzy carbonation activity. Semi transparent body with a ton of tiny bubbles constantly rushing up from the bottom of the glass. Modest and unassuming but pretty retentive head.
Nose has a slight nutty note with the mango and grapefruity hops following up. A touch of earthiness and herbal spice as well. Like with most Athletic IPA style brews, it doesn’t really jump out of the glass with dankness or anything, though I wouldn’t say it’s restrained either. Just kinda existent and balanced. Which, in the case of an NA beer brewed with an unusual spice ingredient, is probably for the best.
Pillowy mouthfeel and gently massaging carbonation, which I didn’t really expect given how active the carb looks in the pour, but interesting for sure. It’s certainly bitter and somewhat dank with grassy and herbal elements sticking out the most to me. The mango flesh aspect comes as it warms a bit but never really becomes a prominent feature of the flavor profile. I would say it’s, again, quite balanced and not too heady with its added ingredients. I’m not really sure what the turmeric is supposed to be providing but I suppose I can pick out a faint earthy hint which could certainly be it.
I… like it. Yep, it sure is a limited edition Athletic IPA. Sorta just pretty good, and head scratching as to why it was made the way that it is. I know it’s in honor of the Ironman triathlon but not sure what mango or turmeric have to do with that. Perhaps it’s best not to overthink things. Worth a shot for sure, though! I’m glad to have picked one up, but I think I’d be a bit bored with six, not gonna lie.
What’s up all? I was up in NH for a work related team meeting yesterday and earlier today so I stopped by Dry Cellar, New Hampshire’s first and only all-NA bottle (and can) shop. Was very excited to see this and other MG offerings on shelf!
Pour on this one is a fairly cloudy straw yellow with a decently sized cap of moderately-retentive bubbles sitting on top. Some lazy lacing as the ring of foam dissipates to a half finger.
As many are aware, this NA beer gets a fair amount of hype here and in other nonalc spaces, so I have been pumped to crack it (and the other MG etc stuff I picked up… more reviews coming in other words). It is brewed with mango, chili, and lime as well as oats and wheat in addition to the typical big four ingredients in beer. The nose is reminding me of estery vitamins, light tropical hints, and a bit of a mango smoothie element that, though somewhat restrained, does carry a bit of heft to it just in terms of complexity. The lime and chili don’t really come across much at all, but the hop aspects are well done and as mentioned, I do get a mango lassi like note.
On the tongue, this sees the complexity ramp up a bit. Apparently there is also salt in this, so that makes sense now that there’s a bit of minerality in here. I think I was expecting a bit of tartness but instead it has a vibe of a tropical fruit bomb with a hefty body and light notes of spice. Feels like something Mikkeller/Evil Twin would make actually. Experimental in concept but not overly insane or unbalanced in practice. I think I do want a little more hop bitterness here, but the balancing act is pretty well done overall.