Trap Door / Grains of Wrath Oh, the Hu-Manatee! Hazy IPA

Beer Name: Oh, the Hu-Manatee!
Brewery: Trap Door Brewing (Vancouver, WA) in collaboration with Grains of Wrath Brewing (Camas, WA) and Zzeppelin Media
ABV: 6.5%
How sold: 16 oz tallboy cans; on draft
Where bought: Belmont Station (Portland, OR)
Price: $6.54 for 16 oz single tallboy can

Date Canned: April 2, 2019
Date Purchased: April 13, 2019
Date Drank: April 20, 2019
When brewed? Possibly a limited-time beer. Collaboration released early April 2019.
IBU: 77

What's on the Cans**: "Drop a dime and call your mother! News out of New England is that hazy IPAs are the latest craze in beer. Zane Singleton is the rabblerouser brewer of Trap Door Brewing making IPAs packed with juicy flavors and a creamy mouthfeel from additions of oats and flaked wheat. The haze craze is catching on faster that ol' Joltin' Joe DiMaggio rounding second. 'It's not a craze,' claims Singleton. 'It's one of the best ways to feature the aroma and flavor of hops like Motu, Rakau, Vic's Secret, and Citra.' But Mike Hunsaker, brewer at Grains of Wrath, believes the far-feetched flying fermentation fad will fade.

"Camas beer baron Mike Hunsaker says hazy IPAs started in the basement of a speakeasy during prohibition. 'Hazy IPAs are a murky, muddy mess that'll end up in a Chicago overcoat,' told Hunsaker. 'IPAs are meant to be as clear as the blue skies over Wrigley Field,' Hunsaker said. 'You shold be able to pound 3 or 4 of these while you listen to Bernie Masterson and the Bears pummel the Pack.' The disagreement was headed for a stupendously sloppy scrap on the South Side between brewers of GoW and Trap Door before media mogul Michael Perozzo flew in with the ZZEPPELIN crew to propose a plan. The result is in your hand. one of two collaboration IPAs brewed with a very similar recipe.

"One hazy. One clear. Tip a few."

**NOTE: This is a mish-mash of GoW's and Trap Door's cans. The description is split in half on purpose to make consumers buy both cans.

Hops: Motueka, Rakau, Vic's Secret, Citra.

What's on the Website: "Collab with Grains of Wrath and ZZEPPELIN. Hazy and Juicy IPA the way IPA should be. DDH with Citra, Vic's Secret, Rakau, and Motu. Huge juicy aromas of orange, pineapple, and tropical fruit." 

Where distributed: Trap Door Brewing distributes to Oregon and Washington.

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured hazy light orange into a pint glass. Unfiltered; sediment at the bottom of the can. White head, some lacing. 4.5/5

Smell (25%): Soft tropical citrus and stone fruit. Pulpy and juicy. Complementing oaty malts. 4.5/5

Taste (40%): Soft tropical citrus/stone fruit and oaty malt combo throughout, akin to NE-Style. Small additional tropical wave right before the aftertaste. Aftertaste itself is sweet citrus orange. It's not a "blow-your-mind" tropical experience, but it's extremely refreshing and does the job. 4.25/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Medium-bodied; some carbonation. Very juicy with almost no dry tongue. 4.5/5

Overall (20%): An excellent to outstanding IPA. Just like The Hindenburg I reviewed yesterday, I loved the newspaper and retro news article look to the can. I'm not sure if I can explain the large difference in price between this one and GoW's beer (over $2 per can is significant), but perhaps it came down to anything extra (i.e. more hops) put into this one. There were areas I preferred GoW over Trap Door, and others where Trap Door had the edge. But it came down to taste, and GoW had the edge on citrus experience. Trap Door's beer was also the more expensive beer, and while it's not a big deal when reviewing, it can be if I wanted to get any in the future. In short, it was very close on the ratings, and I'd recommend both. 4.25/5

Final Weighted Rating: 4.35/5