It’s always nice to get a taste of home. I should qualify that, really: a taste of my old home. After living in Georgia for 13 years, good old Canton is home for me now. But I grew up in Rhode Island, and I cut my teeth on beer there. I have fond memories of frosty glasses of Wachusett beers, and especially recall lugging home growlers of their Blackshack Porter and Wachusett IPA from trips to Massachusetts.

Hence my delight when I was provided a bottle of Wachusett Green Monsta IPA by our own Jeff Lyons. Green Monsta IPA was not around when I lived in New England, having been launched in 2004. I had tried Green Monsta on a subsequent visit to Rhode Island, but it wa s very welcome indeed to revisit this old friend again.

Green Monsta is, of course, named for Fenway Park’s Green Monster, the infamous left field wall that has proven a bane to professional baseball players around the country. That’s a fact that endears it even more to Boston Red Sox fans.

From the label:

An All-American yeast teams up with Cascade, Amarillo and Centennial for a home run of hops in every sip.

Ingredients from the website:

HOP VARIETIES: Cascade, Amarillo, Centennial

MALT VARIETIES: Caramel 40, Caramel 80, Bondlander, Munich, Rye and American two row

Wachusett Green Monsta IPA has an alcohol content listed as 6% by volume on their website, though my bottle says 6.1%. The beer has 55 IBUs and I can only wish it was sold here in Georgia.

Wachusett Green Monsta IPA pours to a bright orange color with a medium sized head of creamy foam and a very earthy, grassy herbal hop nose. Taking a sip, I get some welcoming chewy caramel maltiness up front just for a second or two, and then the hop onslaught begins. A little more resiny than the nose offered, with perhaps a hint of citrus, but again with the very grassy, minty herbal hop aromas and a colossal bitterness in the finish.

This isn’t at all what I expected from the American hops, which tend to run more to the citrus and resin, but I am guessing these were mostly added early in the boil with just a bit of late additions for aroma. However you slice it, the intense, almost harsh, sharp herbal bitterness and herbal aromatic qualities are quite pleasing indeed.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft



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