Kent Falls Equinox

I recently reviewed Stand Out, a single-hop pale ale from Long Trail Brewing that features the Equinox hop. As a homebrewer I love beers that feature single hop varieties, it helps me plan fun ways to use the hops in future homebrew batches. I wasn’t very familiar with the Equinox hop variety, and while I enjoyed it in a pale ale I also though the mixture of fruity and herbal flavors/aromas screamed saison. Clearly someone at Kent Falls Brewing Company agreed, they recently released a farm house ale brewed and dry hopped with this hop variety and appropriately named it Equinox. Regular readers of this blog know that I am a huge fan of well crafted dry-hopped saisons, the right combination of yeast strain and hop varieties can result in a complex and incredibly delicious beer. I have also been very impressed by the small batch beers produced by Kent Falls, I was very happy when they started distributing to Massachusetts. Kent Falls Equinox is available now on draft and in 500 mL bottles.

Kent Falls EquinoxKent Falls Equinox pours a hazy bright yellow with a small white head. The scent is a pleasant mixture of Belgian style yeast and fruity hops. The yeast leads the flavor, touches of pear, apple and apricot. This mingles well with the hop flavor which contributes notes of passion fruit, white grape and herbs. The beer is rounded out by a mild malt backbone, just a hint of white bread and biscuits. Equinox is light and easy to drink, sessionable at 4.8% ABV. The finish is crisp and dry with some lingering hop and yeast flavors. I have been very impressed by every Kent Falls beer I’ve tried, and this is my favorite so far. I am a big fan of dry-hopped saisons and this is a stellar version of that sub-style. Hoppy Boston score: 4.75/5.

Previous Kent Falls Reviews:

Kent Falls Farmer’s TableKent Falls Field Beer Saison #3

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