Tilted Barn Brewing in Exeter, Rhode Island has emerged as a destination brewery for people across the region which usually means one thing, a penchant for making excellent hazy New-England style IPAs. Tilted Barn actually makes a diverse range of beers, but it’s the hops and the haze that drives sales and hype these days and they have built a reputation for producing consistently excellent versions of the style. While Tilted Barn has expanded their distribution up to Massachusetts as the result of the pandemic, their hoppy beers sell out extremely fast, I’ve found some of their lagers and stouts to sample, but I’ve only seen the IPAs in Instagram photos. Fortunately for me, my good friends Tim and Amanda live in Rhode Island, and when we got together recently they hooked me up with a couple 4-packs of Tilted Barn IPAs. One of the beers they brought was Waterlemon Cay, a beer that started as part of a rotating and experimental DIPA recipe but was very well received and eventually took it’s place as a regular release. Tilted Barn Waterlemon Cay is named after a part of St John in the US Virgin Islands that is a popular snorkeling spot, and is available on a rotating basis on draft and in 16 oz cans.
Tilted Barn Waterlemon Cay pours very hazy light orange with a solid white head. The aroma is all hops, loads of tropical fruit. The hops also lead the flavor, notes of pineapple, passion fruit and orange along with just a touch of bitterness. The malts add balance along with hints of crackers and bread crust. Waterlemon Cay is medium bodied and very smooth, it drinks pretty easy for a beer with 8.5% ABV. The finish is crisp with plenty of lingering hop flavor. This is another excellent beer from Tilted Barn, I hope their beers keep making it up to Boston, and in the meantime I will absolutely appreciate my Rhode Island connections hooking me up! Hoppy Boston score: 4.5/5.
Previous Tilted Barn reviews:
Hoppy Boston 
