Review Date: 13/5/2022
Brewery Name: Birallee Beer & Brewing (Sydney, Australia)
Beer Name: Juice Boost NEIPA
Our first attempt at a NEIPA and we're very happy with the results. Check out our full review and comments at the bottom of this page.
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| Birallee Beer & Brewing - Juice Boost NEIPA in the Craftd Alpha glass |
General
Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 6.8% (High)
Region of Origin: Pacific (Australia, New Zealand)
Style Family: IPA
Malts/Adjuncts: Pale, Pilsner, Oats, Gladiator, Acidulated, Wheat Malt
Hops: Citra, Mosaic, Azacca
IBU's: 32
Appearance
Colour: Straw
| Brilliant | Clear | Slight Haze | Hazy |
Collar of Foam & Head Retention
| None |
Poor |
Moderate |
Good |
| N/A | Thin | Fluffy | Mousse-Like |
| None | Slow | Medium | Fast-Rising Bubbles |
Alcohol Aroma
| Not Detectable | Mild | Noticeable | Strong | Harsh |
Aroma & Flavour
Esters Aroma: None
Phenols: None
Alcohol Taste:
| Not Detectable | Mild | Noticeable | Strong | Harsh |
| Mild | Moderate | Strong | Extreme |
| Restrained | Moderate | Aggressive | Harsh |
Malt Sweetness:
| Low | Medium | High | Cloying (Excessive) |
Astringency:
| Low | Medium | High |
Palate/Mouthfeel:
| Light Bodied (Thin/Watery) |
Medium Bodied (Light + Full) |
Full Bodied (Round, Rich & Creamy) |
Palate Carbonation:
| Low | Medium | High |
Length/Finish:
| Short (Up to 15 seconds) |
Medium (15 to 60 seconds) |
Long (More than 60 seconds) |
Oxidative/Aged Qualities: None
Overall
Drinkability: 8/10
Overall Impression: 9/10
Notes
Our first attempt at a NEIPA and we couldn't be happier. Attempting a big and expensive beer like this can be a daunting prospect for the first time, because it's exactly that - big and expensive. Thankfully it came off even better than we had hoped. The final gravity was a little lower than the style dictates but you wouldn't know - the mouthfeel is still very full which what is required in a beer like this.
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| Our custom 3D printed tap label |
The bitterness was surprisingly harsh at first - especially since all bittering came from a large whirlpool hop addition at the end of the boil. This mellowed after a couple of weeks in the keg and all the flavours have gelled together nicely. It's also important that a beer like this isn't drunk ice cold - as this helps promote those bitter notes. Letting it warm for 5-10 minutes to around 7 degrees (celsius) makes for a much more balanced flavour profile with loads of fruit flavour, and some resinous/earthy tones as well.
The high alcohol content is well masked by the hops - we weren't able to perceive any alcohol on the nose, or in the mouth which is nice and means it doesn't distract from the star of the show here - the hops, though it can be a problem as the alcohol content is there, it's just not really noticeable.
The oats definitely made a big difference to the mouthfeel and gives it that silky smooth feeling. The grain bill in general was pretty much spot on providing a neutral or perhaps subtly sweet platform for the hops to do their thing. We're glad we used dextrose to boost the alcohol content little as our brewing efficiency certainly took a hit compared to previous brews - no doubt because of the inclusion of oats which is known to have this kind of impact. A reasonable alcohol content is necessary to support the big hop dosage and dextrose is a common ingredient found printed on the can of commercial NEIPA examples.
What would we change for our next NEIPA (we'll definitely be making another one). Firstly, we love citra hops, but they really tend to dominate and overpower the other hops in the mix, so we'll go for a slightly different hop combination next time. We may even try adding more hops to the dry hop - but this would only be worthwhile if we could boost the alcohol content even higher. The hop combination we used this time though was still very good - with citra, mosaic and azacca providing plenty of juicy and fruity flavours which is what this style of beer calls for.
We'll probably include some more oats next time too - perhaps some malted oat variety to try and help boost the efficiency a little, though as previously mentioned, we're very happy with the grain bill we used here. We'll also tweak the water profile a little to boost the chloride/sulphate ratio a bit higher - in this one we used 2:1, will try 3:1 or perhaps even higher still.
We'll also adjust our volumes a little as there was a lot of wasted/left over trub in the fermenter at the end because of the huge dry hop addition. This meant we ended up with just under 18L in our keg, so we'd adjust the volume by adding another 1L to account for this to give us a full keg at the end.
Drinkability score suffered a little - only because of the high alcohol content inevitably making one a little whoozy after one or two of these.
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