Fruity beer can be a good thing.  Granted not every beer is enhanced by fruit. Sometimes fruit can actually be counterproductive to a well crafted beer.  However sometimes cranking the fruit volume up to 11 makes an already great beer magically delicious. Cloud 19 is a New England Style IPA made by Brew Detroit. The base brew of Cloud 19 is delicious and wonderful on it’s own. I usually follow Brew Detroit pretty close and try to keep up on their releases throughout the year. When a variant of Cloud 19 started popping up that was loaded up with Pineapple I was completely on board. 

Pineapple Cloud 19 is a 7% New England Style IPA that checks in at a 19 IBU rating.  Putting this beer in a glass you’ll see a thick white head, reminiscent of fluffy clouds, that goes about 2 fingers deep and takes its time dissipating. The beer itself pours a deep orange color and true to style is hazy as can be.  It almost looked like pulp when I was pouring! The nose is the first place where you really get greeted by the tropical aroma of pineapple. You’ll also pick up on some tropical fruit smells like mango, citrus, and mosaic hops. Just on the nose, this is already one of the most refreshing beers I’ve poured in years.  The flavor on this beer is loaded with pineapple. You’re still going to find all the things that you would expect in a Hazy IPA. Citrus, Hops, Floral notes, and an almost chewy dank body are all present and extremely enjoyable. The finish on Cloud 19 is dank and sticky and absolutely leaves you wanting more.  

If you had a NEIPA checklist that rambled off characteristics of this style beer Pineapple Cloud 19 would check off every single box. The only possible drawback of this beer is just how loaded with pineapple the it is. For me, that’s a selling point more than anything. I love pineapple, and in a beer like this I’m not sure you could ever have too much pineapple.  However, if pineapple isn’t your thing this variant of Cloud 19 might be a bit overpowering. Pineapple Cloud 19 is a limited release beer so it won’t be around forever, but while it is available I can assure you I will be grabbing as many cans of this as possible. If you’re not big on pineapple that standard release of Cloud 19 is an amazing beer as well and absolutely worth picking up. Both these NEIPA’s are amazing achievements in this style of beer and are amazing additions to Brew Detroit‘s portfolio,