Jack's Abby Kiwi Rising Double India Pale Lager [Beer Review]
In the flurry of breweries and beer companies that have opened in Massachusetts lately, I feel like I’ve almost overlooked a few. Jack’s Abby out in Framingham, MA is one of those. They haven’t had a high profile launch event in the city and they’ve only recently started putting bottles out onto the market despite have draft lines for what seems like quite a while. With that in mind, when I saw a bottle of their Kiwi Rising, I had to grab it. I had a chance to try another of their hoppy offerings at Bukowski’s Boston recently and it was great, so let’s see if this one lives up to what I’m hoping for!
Jack and crew sure nailed at least the color of this beer; they call it a Double India Pale Lager and it’s definitely pale! Surprisingly, it’s a bit hazy which you don’t see much in lagers. Normally the cold aging period (aka lagering) makes the beer quite clear, but in this case there must be enough hops in it to stay a bit hazy...not a bad thing! And this brew is aesthetically complete with a nice, dense white head on top that falls to a craggy, white cap.
As I was pouring this one I could smell sweet, citrusy hops and that’s still what I smell now. You’ve got to love a beer that smacks you in the face with aroma as soon as the first drop comes out of the bottle! Beyond on the hops you can get a bit of light, bready malt but, despite the 8.5% abv, you don’t get any alcohol. Yep, this smells like a lovingly lagered clean, hoppy beer...I can’t wait to taste it, so I won’t wait!
You might think a beer with this much hop aroma is going to be tongue-numbingly bitter but instead what I find on the first sip is hop flavor that goes right along with that wonderful aroma. Rather than leading, as many big, hoppy beers do, with bitterness this one leads with an almost-sweet, orange citrusy hop burst and a creamy mouthfeel. The bitterness? It’s there...it just hits you at the end on the back of the tongue in the finish.
This is a pretty impressive beer, and Jack’s Abby is definitely doing something different! Like I mentioned, I had a chance to try a sip of another of their hoppy offerings at Bukowski’s Boston a couple weeks ago with a new friend of Drink Craft Beer and it was equally delicious. Now that I’ve found out that a brewery from almost-my-hometown is making delicious beers (and some lagers at that!) I’m really looking forward to more from them. Hey Jack, you guys ever want some visitors? Happy to see another local brewer putting out quality beer. Boston (and I’m counting the Greater Boston area) has always been a great beer city but, in the past year or so, we’ve added a whole bunch of great local brewers too. Look out beer world!
