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Beer Review: Half Acre Double Daisy Cutter Pale Ale

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Half Acre, in my opinion, is the best brewery in Chicago and possibly the Midwest right now. Their year round lineup is incredible and their limited releases are equally as great. Double Daisy Cutter is the bigger version of their year round pale ale Daisy Cutter. Same basic malt bill but the hop additions are increased quite a bit. This beer drops only a few times a year and I look forward to it every time. Double Daisy Cutter comes in at 8% ABV.

Appearance: Hazy, golden copper with a 1 finger head. Frothy and nice sticky lacing down the glass. Always great artwork on these releases.

Nose: Dank resin, pine, some citrus, passionfruit, sweet candy notes and some pineapple. It is huge dank and citrusy with some juicy notes as well. It is like a beefy Zombie Dust.

Taste/Mouth: Tropical and citrus fruit notes, passionfruit, pineapple, grapefruit and orange. Nice dry bite of bitterness. It is really balanced nicely considering the huge amount of hop flavors. Good cereal and caramel malt notes as well. It is super balanced but full of such great hop flavors.

Price/Availability: $10 for a bomber at the brewery.

Overall: This is another bomb Double IPA from Half Acre. They continue to impress as Chicago’s best brewery in my opinion and this is a must have from them. There distribution foot print becomes bigger and bigger so it becomes easier to get, if you see it around definitely grab it.

Grade: A

Beer Review: Half Acre Navaja Double IPA

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Navaja is another Half Acre beer I look forward to every year when it is released. This year they moved this beer to some super sexy 4 packs of 16 oz cans. Similar to other annual releases like Beer Hates Astronauts and Double Daisy Cutter, these beers are where Half Acre really flexes their muscles in my opinion. Navaja comes in at 10% ABV.

Appearance: Glowing bright orange color with a 1 finger head and some great lacing. Super hazy beer. Amazing can artwork and the feel of the can is nice, it’s like matte.

Nose: Huge citrus and tropical fruit on this one. Pineapple, mango and passionfruit dominate this super juicy nose. Some sweet malt in the back and you can pick up more orange notes as it warms up. This is a dank double IPA.

Taste/Mouth: Just like the nose this is super juicy with loads of tropical fruit flavors. Big hits of bitterness throughout and finishes juicy and tropical. It also finishes rather dry. Warmth from the alcohol is present but adds another nice dimension to the beer. Really great flavor and feel all around.

Price/Availability: Limited once a year, middle to end of Summer I believe. They did more than one run of it this year. It is $12/4 pack.

Overall: Half Acre really crushes these big hoppy beers. Like Beer Hates Astronaunts and Double Daisy Cutter this one is a huge hit, and probably deserves more hype than they get. The huge citrus and tropical fruit nose and taste that follows it closely make this 10%er almost sessionable. Don’t move through the 4 pack too quickly though, you’ll be on the floor. Another release from the premier Chicago brewery I can look forward to every year.

Grade: A

Beer Review: Half Acre & Other Half Rainbow Never Ends Double IPA

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Hype, hype and more hype. Other Half seems to magically collab with every great brewery in the US. For this beer they took their talents to Chi-Town and brewed Rainbow Never Ends with the guys from Half Acre. What did they come up with? A dank, juicy double IPA of course. Rainbow Never Ends comes in at 8.5% ABV.

Appearance: Hazy straw yellow gold with super sticky lacing and a half a finger head. Really awesome label design on these Half Acre exclusive bombers.

Nose: Nice big juicy citrus and tropical notes. Fresh hop nuggets, some piney and earthy notes. Idaho 7, Equinox and Citra were the hops used and they seemed to be used to perfection here. Pineapple and passionfruit are also rather prevalent. Spent a long time just enjoying the great aromas from this beer.

Taste/Mouth: Nice tropical fruit up front. Melon, citrus fruit, mandarin orange and mango. Get some kolsch yeast flavors as well and it finishes slightly dry and sticky. Good dose of bitterness throughout the feel and a little heat from the ABV. Nice flavors, good balance and a thoroughly enjoyable drinkable beer.

Price/Availability: $10/bomber brewed once and only available at Half Acre brewery.

Overall: The hype is real with this one. Other Half and Half Acre deliver a great DIPA with Rainbow Never Ends. I haven’t had a ton of Other Half stuff but to me this just feels like a really well executed Half Acre Double IPA which I am more than okay with (see my reviews of Beer Hates Astronauts and Navaja). Glad I was able to make it to the brewery and pick up some bottles when it was released, would grab it again if they decide to bring it back.

Grade: A

Beer Review: Half Acre Beer Hates Astronauts IPA

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Half Acre makes some pretty stellar hoppy beers, especially their seasonal IPAs and Double IPAs. Beer Hates Astronauts is their all Citra and Vienna Malt IPA which is “The official beer of the comic God Hates Astronauts”. This is a very anticipated annual release from Half Acre. Beer Hates Astronauts comes in at 7% ABV.

Appearance: Hazy golden deep orange color. Really nice head and lacing, a great looking beer. Love the label as well, this year along with past years have some fantastic artwork.

Nose: Big nose, tropical fruit, pineapple, citrus, grapefruit and juicy berries. Also has some floral and sweet malt notes. One of those beers you smell the second you crack open. The pineapple and grapefruit notes are amazing.

Taste/Mouth: Juicy tropical fruit, orange, grapefruit juice and grapefruit rind. Some floral and earthy flavors as well. Great feel with a nice bite of bitterness, good light malt presence from the Vienna malt. Super easy drinking IPA. Midwest juice bomb.

Price/Availability: $9 for a bomber, limited annual release usually early summer. Pretty difficult to get and often sells out pretty quickly.

Overall: Awesome IPA from Half Acre and certainly one of my favorites from them. Half Acre continue to put out super quality beers and make a serious push to be my favorite Midwest brewery. All Citra and Vienna malt make for a simple yet incredibly delicious juicy beer. Seek this one out, it is certainly worth it and I look forward to its release every year. Beer Hates Astronauts is perfection.

Grade: A+

Beer Review: Half Acre Heyoka IPA

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This IPA from Half Acre is now known as Senita IPA but when I made my notes on this one it was still called Heyoka. They had to change the name because of some disagreements over the origin of the name. Half Acre is currently working on their expansion into a larger brewing facility which will increase there distribution area and production. Heyoka or Senita comes in at 7% ABV.

Appearance: Clear bright golden yellow with a 1 finger head and some real nice lacing.

Nose: Really nice bright aroma. Very piney and resinous, lots of grapefruit and citrus fruits in the aroma as well. Very pleasant nose that hits you hard when you pour it from the can.

Taste/Mouth: Follows the nose really nicely with lots of grapefruit and pine. Some earthy and floral notes with a strong biscuit malt backbone which balances the beer out perfectly. Finishes slightly dry and sticky. A very nice full mouthfeel and the appropriate amount of carbonation.

Price/Availability: 4 pack of 16oz cans for around $10. Very widely available here in Chicago both in canned form as well as on draft.

Overall: A great offering from the makers of many other incredible beers. Truly one of Chicago’s best local options, this and daisy cutter are two of my go-to beers out at the bar. This and Anti-Hero are the first two IPAs you should have when you get to Chicago.

Grade: A-

Beer Review: Half Acre Lager Town Octoberfest

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About a month or month and a half ago I took a trip over to the Half Acre brewery (by trip I mean 20 minute bus ride) and sampled what they had on draft, picked up a growler of Space and grabbed a bottle of their newest release at the time Lager Town. Love the Half Acre brewery, always have a nice conversation with the guys at the tap room (the cashier offered me one of their growlers for my Hill Farmstead flip top, I declined) and am always very excited to try every beer I can when I am there. I do enjoy Octoberfests but I do not really seek them out, I have a few when they are in season but never really feel like they are worth reviewing. Nonetheless of the few I drank this year I thought I would at least review Half Acre’s  attempt at the German style lager. Lager Town comes in at 6% ABV.

Appearance: Hazy and unfiltered for sure is an amber color with some reddish hues. Pours just about a 1 finger head that provides some very nice sticky lacing. Love the artwork from Half Acre as usual, they had a few varieties of artwork for this one as well.

Nose: Caramel and toffee are noticeable right at the forefront with nice accents of fruity German yeast. Also some graininess and malt with a light roastiness to it as well. This has a very clean nose, enjoyable.

Taste/Mouth: Caramel and toffee again right at the beginning followed by roasted malt and some sweetness. Some earthy hops come into play. Like the nose the taste is also very clean and pleasant, super drinkable and definitely a beer you could put a 2 liter down of. Medium carbonation.

Availability/Price: Seasonal availability obviously and bomber at the brewery was around $7.

Overall: Nice take on the style pretty much every brewery does this time of year. Great way to kick off the month of October and fall and glad I bought this one. Would definitely grab it again next year when the time comes.  The bottle made a great decoration for my fireplace mantle as well!

Grade: B