Brewed By: Half Acre Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois
Purchased: 16oz/1 Pint CAN bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2014
Style/ABV: India Pale Ale, 7.0%
Reported IBUs: ?
The Half Acre Heyoka is the next big thing, at least according to the Chicagoist. So don't tell anyone about this certified #shelfturd, okay? About Half Acre:
Reported IBUs: ?
The Half Acre Heyoka is the next big thing, at least according to the Chicagoist. So don't tell anyone about this certified #shelfturd, okay? About Half Acre:
The Half Acre Beer Company was founded in October 2006, which is young for craft beer in general, but great for the local Chicago scene. The founders of Half Acre started out by working with the Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls in Wisconsin. They eventually developed their Half Acre Lager, and began distributing and selling it in Chicago during the August of 2007. The beer was successful enough that Half Acre was able to buy out a space in the Bucktown area of Chicago. With continuing sales, Half Acre was eventually able to purchase equipment from Ska Brewing Co. and moved to their current location on Lincoln Avenue on the north side of Chicago. Half Acre has been brewing at their Chicago location since 2009, and seems to be really expanding in both amount of distribution and popularity. Check out the full story HERE, and check out their website for a low-down on all their beers and info.
The Heyoka IPA is a "western charged firecracker." This beer is brewed with Chinook and Amarillo hops, and pale malts. Punching in at 7% ABV, this one is available on draft, via growler, and in 16oz cans.
The Heyoka comes in a sexy, but simplistic can. The beer pours into a hazy yellow body, kicking up four fingers of dense, bready, sustaining, golden-tinted head. The head is leaving TONS of lacing as it falls off. There's some visible carbonation in the hazy golden-yellow body.
The aroma is super, super bright. There's huge soapy and dank hops, with dank pine, soapy orange, grapefruit, cut grass, leafy hops, hop spice, and some biscuity-cereal malt. There's some pithy lemon as well.
You get a lot of the same stuff on the aroma in the taste. This beer has nice density, with tons of pale malt body providing support for the layers of soapy hops: soapy pine, soapy citrus, soapy orange/grapefruit, and lemony dank. It's super fresh, and tastes like it is on draft. This is a very balanced IPA, with that unobtrusive malt framework holding things up and providing hints of bready-cereal-biscuit-caramel sugar subtlety. The main character here is, of course, the hops. And man, this beer layers on the hops. The soapy and dank pine-citrus-grass punch is fantastic.
This doesn't have the complexity of the Beer Hates Astronauts IPA, and that's going to be the one thing holding this beer back. However, this beer is better than the RevBrew Anti-Hero, in my opinion. This is a medium-full to full-bodied beer, with good carbonation and a slightly soapy and slightly creamy body. There is some cereal-grain quality to the mouthfeel, and lots of bitterness. Palate depth is outstanding, as is duration, as is balance. Complexity is kind of one-note, with lots of Chinook-driven pine and spice, and some Amarillo-citrus. You get huge soapy citrus up front, with tons of pale malt support; that rolls into big spice, some resinous and dank pine, pithy lemon, more citrus/orange/tangerine/mango/guava; the back end trails with some biscuit and cereal-grain, lingering hops, bitter, dry. Nice.
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| Half Acre Heyoka IPA |
The Heyoka comes in a sexy, but simplistic can. The beer pours into a hazy yellow body, kicking up four fingers of dense, bready, sustaining, golden-tinted head. The head is leaving TONS of lacing as it falls off. There's some visible carbonation in the hazy golden-yellow body.
The aroma is super, super bright. There's huge soapy and dank hops, with dank pine, soapy orange, grapefruit, cut grass, leafy hops, hop spice, and some biscuity-cereal malt. There's some pithy lemon as well.
You get a lot of the same stuff on the aroma in the taste. This beer has nice density, with tons of pale malt body providing support for the layers of soapy hops: soapy pine, soapy citrus, soapy orange/grapefruit, and lemony dank. It's super fresh, and tastes like it is on draft. This is a very balanced IPA, with that unobtrusive malt framework holding things up and providing hints of bready-cereal-biscuit-caramel sugar subtlety. The main character here is, of course, the hops. And man, this beer layers on the hops. The soapy and dank pine-citrus-grass punch is fantastic.
This doesn't have the complexity of the Beer Hates Astronauts IPA, and that's going to be the one thing holding this beer back. However, this beer is better than the RevBrew Anti-Hero, in my opinion. This is a medium-full to full-bodied beer, with good carbonation and a slightly soapy and slightly creamy body. There is some cereal-grain quality to the mouthfeel, and lots of bitterness. Palate depth is outstanding, as is duration, as is balance. Complexity is kind of one-note, with lots of Chinook-driven pine and spice, and some Amarillo-citrus. You get huge soapy citrus up front, with tons of pale malt support; that rolls into big spice, some resinous and dank pine, pithy lemon, more citrus/orange/tangerine/mango/guava; the back end trails with some biscuit and cereal-grain, lingering hops, bitter, dry. Nice.
Rating: Above-Average (4.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average here...no complaints. This is fucking good. Maybe the best kept secret in Chicago right now, until this beer gets hyped up like Zombie Dust and then you can't find it anywhere. Fucking hell. I've noticed that Half Acre makes really good IPAs...it's about time they committed one to a can, I hope we see this year-round all the time. Food pairings: spicy Mexican, American bar food, your usual IPA pairings. I think this sells for around $10 dollars for 4 x 16oz. Pretty sweet deal, don't check it out. This beer sucks. Don't buy it. Fuck you Chicagoist, you fucking jerks. Everyone just go buy Zombie Dust, okay?
Random Thought: I fucking hate my life. This weekend sucked ass. Fuck.
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average here...no complaints. This is fucking good. Maybe the best kept secret in Chicago right now, until this beer gets hyped up like Zombie Dust and then you can't find it anywhere. Fucking hell. I've noticed that Half Acre makes really good IPAs...it's about time they committed one to a can, I hope we see this year-round all the time. Food pairings: spicy Mexican, American bar food, your usual IPA pairings. I think this sells for around $10 dollars for 4 x 16oz. Pretty sweet deal, don't check it out. This beer sucks. Don't buy it. Fuck you Chicagoist, you fucking jerks. Everyone just go buy Zombie Dust, okay?
Random Thought: I fucking hate my life. This weekend sucked ass. Fuck.
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