Over Zealous from Eredità Beer
Some 2600+ miles away from my home, in North Haven, Connecticut and brewing out of Twelve Percent Beer Project’s state of the art facility, is Eredità Beer. I had never heard of them before a few weeks ago but after finding out their owner/head brewer, Chris Papallo, got his start at Hill Farmstead before heading out on his own, I knew I should try their stuff.
I snagged a can of their Over Zealous, an extreme version of their hazy DIPA, Zeal. This iteration features a higher ABV (9%) and features hand-picked Nelson Sauvin and Southern Cross hops along with some Phantasm powder to boost those grape flavors in the Nelson. Being so far away, and so rarely available, the 16-ounce can set me back about $8 but, if you’re in Connecticut, the price isn’t nearly that bad.
It poured a mostly cloudy straw color, with some murky orange hues deeper in the center. About a finger of fluffy eggshell white head topped the beer and slowly fizzled down into a small accumulation around the edge of glass, leaving a hefty dose of lacing as it did so.
The aroma was quite dank and resinous with some big fruit qualities taking control. Leading the charge was a white wine grape quality but, underneath, there were some lighter notes of melon, citrus (grapefruit, lemon, lime), and bready grains to balance it out. It had quite the pithy smell between the wine and grapefruit peel characteristics.
Each swig begins with a hefty rush of carbonation before the flavors really pop. And the first ones out of the gate were honeydew and white wine grapes from the Nelson hops. The melon actually out-dueled the grapes and really cut down on the dry quality that usually accompanies the grapes.
Around the midway point, the honeydew subsided some and allowed the citrus characteristics to peek out. It was mostly lemon and lime but the grapefruit rind flavor would also appear every so often, bringing a dash of pithy bitterness when it showed up.
On the back end there was a sweet burst of honeydew and cantaloupe that eliminated almost all the dryness the grapefruit and wine brought in. And it would have been quite the clean finish had the 9% ABV not showed up here as well.
There was a bit of a boozy twinge and some alcohol dryness that lingered for just a few moments after the sip. But, outside of that, Over Zealous went down waaay too easily.
My first Eredità beer was quite the introduction to them and I’ll definitely be looking for more! Good stuff here.
