Fairy Nectar DDH from Nebraska’s Kros Strain Brewing
Hailing from the Omaha suburb of La Vista, Nebraska, Kros Strain has been keeping the Cornhuskers’ thirst at bay since 2017. Over the last 6+ years, they have acquired quite a few accolades, including multiple medals from the US Open Beer Championship, World Beer Cup, FoBAB (Festival of Barrel Aged Beers), and GABF.
They can be hard to find if you’re not living in Nebraska, so I haven’t been able to try too many of their brews…however, today I found myself with a can of their Fairy Nectar DDH – a hazier version of their Fairy Nectar (which I was lucky enough to have a few years ago).
This double dry-hopped version of their mainstay IPA was brewed with an extra dosing of Citra and Mosaic hops and has a solid 6.2% ABV. It even won the silver medal back at the 2018 GABF, coming in second place out of the 391 entries in the Juicy/Hazy IPA category.
The beer poured a murky straw color with some hints of orange peeking out in the shade. Just about a finger of pure white head topped the beer but quickly faded down into a slight accumulation around the edge of the glass. The foam left almost no lacing on its way down and, outside of a few clouds in the middle, was almost completely gone within a minute.
It had an incredibly juicy aroma that was packed with tropical fruit characteristics. Lime, mango, and grapefruit led the way with some smaller notes of lemon, pineapple, melon, and tangerine following closely behind. The grist added that typical flaked wheat and oat quality, bringing a bit of cereal to the otherwise mega-juicy scent. I was a little shocked at just how much the lime stood out, adding an almost tart quality to the smell.
Each sip began with a thinner body and a rush of carbonation. It wasn’t nearly as pillowy or soft as most hazies and, instead, drank a bit lighter. After the carbonation had fizzled its way across my taste buds, the flavors began to crawl forward.
It was led, once again, by the lime. There was a bit of tartness early on but quickly joining the party were the juicier notes of mango and grapefruit. Those second additions added a bunch more juice and eliminated that early sour twinge.
Around the midway point, some acidic pineapple joined the party and blended quite nicely with the lime and pithy grapefruit. As the sip progressed, the beer became a bit heavier…slowly that soft and pillowy quality began to appear more. But it never got too heavy and remained a quite light and crushable brew.
Fairy Nectar ended quite cleanly as well. Some light grapefruit rind and a bit of sticky resin lingered on. And, after one final push from the green citrus fruit, so did a decent amount of tart lime juice, adding to the acidity of the brew.
My biggest takeaway was just how shockingly tart this beer was and how much the lime flavor really popped. I have never had a hazy showcase this much lime flavor or be this acidic and sour. It wasn’t a bad flavor, on the contrary, I enjoyed it for the most part. But it was a very interesting quality to find in a NEIPA.
