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Holy Simcoe, Batman! by Bhramari Brewing Co. is something rather unusual for commercial offerings – a SMaSH IPA (Single Malt and Single Hop). As such, it is an excellent way to evaluate the character of a particular hop in a brew – in this instance, Simcoe. This is being evaluated as a 21A American IPA as per the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines.
The aroma is Simcoe, pure and simple. Plenty of fresh, dank catty hop character that assaults the nose upon popping open the can. The base beer aroma is subdued behind this with slight esters noted, but nothing noted as being a negative. This beer has an extremely cloudy, fruit juice-like appearance. (New England IPA-like, though it is not listed as such, which is a bit of a negative), and has a moderate, white, small-bubble head with nice retention and lacing.
The Simcoe character also comes through very strongly in the flavor, along with a full and rich base malt note. There is a moderate level of bitterness in this brew that balances out the malt and hop flavors quite well. This full flavor is maintained throughout the middle, finish and aftertaste, with a slight estery perfumy note coming through. The body is medium, and the carbonation is moderate.
Overall, Holy Simcoe, Batman! is a fantastic clinic on Simcoe hops, with enough base malt character to stand up against the hops and to be noticed. The biggest drawback is the turbidity of the brew -- way too cloudy for a standard IPA, but the hop bitterness is too high for a NE IPA. Still a nice brew, though.