Review: Cabin Brewing's Pink Popper NEIPA with Guava and Aji Amarillo Chiles


Today I'm checking out Cabin Brewing's Pink Popper NEIPA thanks to Brent! Pink Popper is a New England IPA brewed with guava and Aji Amarillo Chiles. It's been a while since I've had a spicy beer but this is exciting as I've never seen a NEIPA with a bit of spiciness to it. I know Brent was absolutely excited about this beer when he saw Cabin posting about it on social media a few weeks back, that's enough to make me giddy! With the name like Pink Popper, I'm thinking of Jalapeño Poppers for some reason.

Appearance: Pours a very hazy orange with a light to moderate amount of white head on top. So far, this definitely looks like a NEIPA, but a bit lighter in some spots in the glass.

Aroma: Sweet, tropical and juicy.. with a jalapeño-like vegetal spice to it at the end. Guava really does pop out in this beer, followed by pineapple and oranges, as well as a hint of lemon. The Aji Amarillo Chiles pop out with a bit of heat, which.. as I said already, remind me of jalapeños so far.. vegetal, a bit grassy, a good balance of vegetal and fruitiness so far.. not really that spicy yet, mostly just a very subtle tingle on the nose.

Taste: Every sip I have of this beer is different - in the initial sip, I had a sweet tropical presence of guava, pineapple and orange. The second sip was full on vegetal with a mild spiciness to it, reminding me completely of jalapeños but without all the spice. Yeah, there's a bit of heat but I was honestly expecting a moderate amount of tingling, not just a passing tingling. There's a bit of grassiness to it, and the aftertaste is a tad vegetal.

Overall Thoughts: Actually, the more I'm drinking this, the more I get a bit of a tingling sensation in the back of my mouth from this beer.. it's just that it took a while! Solid take on a New England-style IPA.. something they seem to do well with from everything I've tried. The Aji Amarillo Chile aspect of the beer is interesting, but I wish there was even more heat.. but I guess if this beer was a bit too spicy, it would completely scare off craft drinkers who aren't spice lovers (I'm sure there's lots of them out there). The beer has a unique take on NEIPA and spiced beer, would I drink this again? I kind of hope that spicy IPAs becomes a thing actually..

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