4 Hands Contact High

Brewed By: 4 Hands Brewing Co. in Saint Louis, Missouri

Purchased: 12oz CAN from a 6-pack bought at Whole Foods in Naperville, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: American Wheat Ale Ale, 5.0% 

Reported IBUs: ?

Even though the store shelves say otherwise, it is still Summer. About 4 Hands Brewing Co.: 

4 Hands Brewing Co. are a brewery based out of Saint Louis, Missouri. The brewery was founded in 2011 by owner/president Kevin Lemp. The brewery features a number of brewers, including ex-Goose Island guru, Will Johnston. 4 Hands is all about hand-crafted beers, and they feature a barrel-aging program that uses wine and spirit barrels. Exciting stuff. Definitely check out their website or Facebook page.

The Contact High is an American Wheat Ale brewed with "copious amounts of pacific northwest hops and dry hopping with fresh orange zest."

4 Hands Contact High

The Contact High pours into a dark yellow, deep golden body, kicking up a finger of off-white and short-lived head. Head retention exists as a faint coating, and there is short lived cling from the lacing as you swirl the beer. This has moderate carbonation. All-in-all: not a looker by any means.

The aroma, on the other hand, does catch your attention. Right up front, I'm getting HUGE orange zest. The orange zest is beefed up with big hop notes that include iced tea, crushed aspirin, honey, pine, lemon, lemon tree leaves, and huge dank citrus and citrus zest. I'm reminded a bit of Pipeworks' MariLime Law brewed in collaboration with Tired Hands. 

You get big orange zest in the taste as well, with punchy orange juice and orange zest showing up with assertive authority. This is refreshing and juicy, and reminds me of seltzer water and orange Fresca. The hops in here pull towards orange and pine, with some hints of iced tea and wet leaves. 

This is light, refreshing, and simple. At 5.0%, this is incredibly crushable. Canning this was a good idea, and reinforces the portability of this brew. It's not complex at all, and the palate depth feels a bit one-dimensional. As far as how this stacks up: orange zest up front; more orange and lime zest in the middle, with citrus juice, orange juice, and some hints of citrus hops; the back end drops some iced tea and leaves, with lingering orange juice. The bitterness here is mild. It really reminds me of orange soda. 

Rating: Light Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Average on this. I'm a little conflicted...in this instance, I think the orange zest might actually detract from some of the potential hop flavors you can get out of a beer using just hops. I look at something like Zombie Dust and think to myself, "now that's a Pale Ale." Even the Akari Shogun has this one beat, with ease. It's a preference thing for me, but yeah. This works as a fruited beer though, and I love the 6-pack format. In cans nonetheless. I agree with the suggested food pairings: spicy foods that benefit from a hint of lime or citrus would pair wonderfully with this beer. So would poultry, and also fish or seafood, I think. Maybe a ceviche? I can't complain. This isn't a bad buy, not at around $10 a sixer.

Random Thought: Another year, another forgettable season of Food Network Star...