★ Review: Hill Farmstead Ephraim (2012)

Growler fill of the 2012 Edition of Ephraim 24 hours ago while I was volunteering at the HFS Harvest Festival. This was in the fridge at 45 and enjoyed in a tall snifter.A – What little head that is here took until after my pour to appear. Solid white and then fades fast. This is a very complex and gorgeous beer. Bright orange on the edges and darker more golden orange at the center. Extremely cloudy and clearly zero-filtering happened on this one.S – The Centennial and Simcoe are easy to pick out. The others, not so much. The piney resinous scent I expected from a (theoretically) 280IBU beer is not there. Pine and Grapefruit juice are present followed by lemon juice and orange with a hint of pepper.

T – Okay, now there is that bitterness I expected. Wow. Well, a lot or citrus (tang from grapefruit and sweet from tangerine). This is followed by some pine cone taste and a very manly malt-backbone. The bitterness is on the border of domination but never reaches that point of being too intense.

M – medium carbonation, heavy body. Almost grape skin sort of dry finish.

O – It tastes like what a working farmer would enjoy after a long day. It’s not my favorite HFS beer by a long shot but still was a pleasure to drink.