Work the System - Magnify Brewing

Last week, Work the System became one of the newest canned IPA's from Magnify Brewing to drop. To be honest, this was a welcome change from other Magnify Brewing IPA's. If I can be even more honest, it was nice to sip on an IPA that wasn't fully subscribing to be overly juicy and hazy, but at the same time, didn't fully engage in trying to be a West Coast IPA either. With some of these afternoons, sometimes it's nice to just sip on an IPA with a low malt presence and that is clean and crisp overall.

At 6.0% ABV, it's super approachable and drinkable and seems to bare more in common with Vine Shine than any of the other IPA's in the rich catalog that Magnify has. The beer is definitely dank and resiny, with a pine-like quality to it. I actually let this brew warm up just a bit and the taste profile just opened up. You're going to get some fruit once it's allowed to breathe, but my first impression was about how dank it tasted overall. It's definitely not my favorite beer from Magnify, but if I ever saw this one hit distribution, I'd prefer to buy this over Vine Shine. Salud!

Solid Gold Good Times - Magnify Brewing

Congratulations to Magnify Brewing on their second anniversary. And with that anniversary, came the special release of Solid Gold, Good Times. An Imperial IPA clocking in at 8.5% and double dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin hops, I knew the contents of the can were sure to please the palate. This beer did not disappoint at all. It's easy on the eyes and pleasurable on the palate. Knowing their body of work with Peak of Ripeness in 2016 and their use of the Nelson hops, I knew it'd deliver. 

Right off the bat, the aroma is one of grapefruit and melon with a resinous touch to it. It's a very tropical nose with some hints of pineapple and orange in there. It checks off all that boxes for the trend of the IPA's that people go nuts over: Hazy, slightly turbid, OJ-like yellow coloring with a thick lacing, and the top off of a tropical and juice-like taste. It'd been a while since I had some can offerings from Magnify and my palate was quite pleased to have it once again. Salud!

Magnify Brewing - Pollinator & Contractual Obligations

Finally, the day a lot of beer nerds like myself were waiting for - Magnify Brewing released both Pollinator and Contractual Obligations on the same day. For quite some time, I've been a huge fan of the Pollinator IPA. It has always hit the perfect balance between sweetness and hops. Every single time I've visited Magnify Brewing up in Fairfield, NJ, I've made sure to take home a growler of Pollinator. 

For Contractual Obligations the first time around, I enjoyed it - but not as much as I thought I would. Still, it was received with much fanfare and was widely anticipated. So to see that both CO and Pollinator were to be released on the same day generated quite the buzz (No Pollinator pun intended).

Pollinator is still great this time around, it still has that balance and maybe an extra added ounce of some good farmhouse funk. It drinks very smoothly and is the perfect compliment to a great big rack of BBQ ribs. The can is beautiful and a great representation of the beer. It retains that sweetness without being overpowering. I really enjoy this beer every single time.

But I have to be honest, Contractual Obligations was much better this time around. It's juicy, vibrant, aromatic and does not taste at all like an 8%+ ABV beer. If you can find this, get it. It's such a great beer. The Citra and Mosaic absolutely shine in this beer. It definitely did a much better job of bringing that juiciness to the forefront, so I'm sure that everyone who loved the first batch is going to be blown away by these cans.

It very well looks like the second half of 2016 is continuing the steamrolling momentum of the first half as Magnify continues to cement their legacy within New Jersey as a place for great beer.