Sleeping Giant has a single hop series of beers called the lONEly Hop series where they feature a single variety of hop for each one of their beers. This is the first one I've ever tried from their series, this edition is the Sabro hop, which is a hop I've never heard of before today. I've probably had something with a Sabro hop in the past but I wouldn't really know otherwise. The Sabro hop is a variety of hop that was just introduced in the last year or so. The notes of the hop are supposedly fruity and citrus with tangerine, coconut, tropical fruit and stone fruits, as well as a hint of cedar, mint and cream.
Appearance: Blonde ale with a bit of sediment throughout the beer. Light amount of cloudiness in the beer and light to moderate carbonation. The head is frothy and white, gradually goes down but leaves behind a good amount of lacing on the side of the glass.
Aroma: The first impression I got from this beer was simply just meh. The first sniff I got was a bit of a nuttiness with a hint of woodiness. For some reason I was just expecting a tropical and sweet-forward hop vibe here. Once I let the beer settle in the glass, the nuttiness that I'm attributing to the malt and not the hop (a bit toasty malt) is still very much there, but I start getting a bit of a coconut aroma to it and a hint of lemon citrusness.. but nothing near as tropical as what the hop is described as.
Taste: The taste gives off a bit of a different flavour than what I found in the aroma, the tropical presence is definitely showing up more than the aroma, so I'm getting a hint of pineapple, lemon, and still a decent amount of coconut in every sip. The beer is somewhat nutty and has a bit of a woodiness (cedar?). As the beer warms up just a tad I get a bit more tropical notes with a hint of an almost popsicle-like fruit sweetness that just comes and goes.
Overall Thoughts: I'm mixed about this Pale Ale, I didn't like it at first but once it warmed up I got a bit of the tropical presence, especially a bit of coconut. This reminds me a great deal of a classic Golden Ale and that's what I was thinking it was until I read into the beer information where it's supposed to be more tropical and whatnot. The tropical notes do eventually pop up, but it takes quite a while to start. I do really like that they're putting out single hopped beers featuring hops that have only existed for a few years now, pretty cool stuff!
https://sleepinggiantbrewing.ca/product/sabro/
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