Living Waters "Highgate" New England DIPA

For starters, it took me a while to figure out what the actual name of the brewery was on this can. As far as can designs go, this one isn't great. It's hard to read almost all of the lettering, and the artwork is confusing at best. I left out the fact that this explicitly states that it is the experimental series, and I didn't even know that they had a regular series. Let's test out their experiment.

The name is long enough, but they could very easily have added the word hazy to their descriptor. This is a very hazy yellow-orange beer that produces an inordinately massive head right out of the can. It took two pores to get this beer this filled, and I think I only got three fourths of the can into the glass. Eventually, the bubbles settle, leaving very little lacing, and produce a pad of small and medium bubbles with much bigger bubbles around the sides. The aroma is strangely tart with tangerine, nectarine, and peach mixed in with a very yeast-filled malt.

First sip reminds me that it has been a while since I had a beer that I could legitimately call "filled with funk." This beer has the funk. It's a bit dusty, and the funk pairing with the yeast seems to overcome the tart fruit flavors. The beer end is a lot sweeter than it begins, and the foam dissipates as the sweetness settles in. I'm not really sure if this is a good sipping beer or not. I might have to drink a few to find out. I am willing to bet that it will get better as a little warmth gets into it.

Tip-in is funk, tartness, and peach fuzz. The middle stretches out into a smooth, creamy mix of tropical and citrus fruits that is counterpointed by a sweet malt quite well; the funk appears to simply become background noise in the center of the beer. The finish is where the funk returns with bitterness in its wake before a sweetness takes over for a yeast and sweet trail off.

Bottom Line: I'd say experiment successful.

3.75/5