Style: Pale ale
Brewery: Omnipollo
Origin: Sweden
Size: 44cl
Alcohol: 5%
Price: 39kr
Systembolaget: 58662
Hypnagoga Pale Ale combines the haze of a NEIPA with the drinkability and balance from a pale ale, and is brewed with generous amounts of Citra, Mosaic, El Dorado and Nelson Sauvin hops. This beer was first brewed and named to celebrate Hypnagoga, a book featuring the artwork by Karl Grandin. The term “pale ale” first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke (koks in Swedish), which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at that time. As with a lot of Omnipollo beers, I was first drawn to the intriguing can artwork, and I knew I wanted a pale ale for the tasting, so this seemed like the perfect fit.
When decanted, this was a dark lemon juice colour with a thin white head and medium to low carbonation. The aroma was pleasant, with peach, lemon, dried grass, pine and a hint of pomegranate to finish things off. The body was light (almost too light in fact), with the beer having a rather watery edge. There is a short hit of fruit on the tongue directly after sipping, but that quickly disappears to leave a thin, one dimensional bitter note. The alcohol was warming, which was strange as it was only 5%. The aftertaste was subtle and rather bland, but didn’t do anything particularly wrong.
I would say this is the epitome of average. Easy to drink and inoffensive, but nothing to liven up the senses in any way. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing particularly wrong with it, but it was a bit boring and I think there are better choices of a similar style released by the brewery to try instead.