“An easy drinking hoppy American pale ale, Skimpy Sparrow is another edition in our “Small Bird Series” of lower ABV offerings brewed for the summer.”
Glassware: American pint.
Appearance: Super hazy yellow/orange pour with two fingers of loosely packed foam perched on top. It eventually forms a collar with healthy lace work on the glass.
Aroma: Punchy pine-driven hops, stonefruits, citrus and pineapple making up the bulk of it. Heady notes of frosty fruits, concentrated orange juice, grapefruit and peach also. The malt profile is very subtle yet still offering a distinct dry and grainy character that provides a little bit of balance.
Flavour: Exactly like a NEIPA just without the added depth, booze and creaminess. Still showing tonnes of pithy citrus, orange juice, piney hops and peach with undertones of grapefruit, peppery spice and white grapes. Picking up that dry and grainy accent again but it’s dwarfed by the slightly assertive bitterness and orange peel in the finish.
Mouthfeel: Dry with a developing bitterness. Somewhat prickly too, making the relatively low 5.4% AbV seem higher. Medium body and co2.
Overall: They’ve done a great job at making it feel bigger than it actually is. We’d admit it is a welcome change from all of the triple, double and imperial NEIPA’s we’ve been in to recently. Not bad.