Beer Review: MadTree Galaxy High

I have been impatiently dreaming of this day for over a year. I have been eagerly waiting for it for 2 months. I have been loving this day for the past 20 minutes. The following review of MadTree Galaxy High is highly biased. I love this beer. I love that it’s canned. I love that I’m drinking Galaxy High from a can at home.

On first appearance, it didn’t look like this was going to be a powerful head, but it came out with a decent layer of fluff. That head is resting on a dingy orange-gold body that packs a moderate haze. At first this haze surprised me, then I remembered how many hops this thing packs. It’d be hard to filter to a nice clarity without sacrificing loads of flavor. Update: Matt Rowe, one of MadTree’s brewers and author of the #SoYouWannaBeABrewer tweets, said that the High series of beers are not filtered at all. Only run through the centrifuge.

Whoosh, that aroma arouses every nose hair. Pungent waves of grapefruit. More tropical fruits follow behind that with a tiny hint of caramel/biscuit malt.

The flavor follows suit. This beer tastes more like a tropical fruit smoothie mixed with a pale ale. Those sweet fruity flavors do overpower the hop bitterness which is shy of medium, lower than many IPAs. Your tongue gets a heavier dose of those biscuity caramel malts than your nose did, but it’s still not a huge amount.

The mouthfeel is the weakest point of a powerhouse brew. By weakest point, I mean less than astounding. It’s a medium/light body, decent carbonation, and dry finish.

Look, I love this damn beer. Galaxy High has been one of my favorite Cincinnati IPAs beers since it first passed my lips sometime last year. Later that year I realized the danger inherent in this beer. It’s so tasty and easy drinking, but these cans are 10.5% and it once went as high as 11.3%. Back when it was over 11% I had 4 in a night at MadTree. Luckily I had a friend to drive me home and even more luckily now I can knock back a 4-pack on my couch!

All that love aside I do have 2 problems with this beer. First off, it’s $12.50 (including tax) for a 4-pack. No way you can cut $12.50 for 4 12-ounce cans as less than expensive. Update: It’s been pointed out that this is cheaper than Fat Heads 4-packs of Hop JuJu and far cheaper, per ounce, than any bomber. I just get stingy paying more than $10 for a 6-pack.

Second problem is availability. It should have good availability across Cincinnati, Dayton, and Kentucky… for now. Galaxy and Topaz hops are hard to come by so MadTree is only hoping to make this a semi-periodic beer. When they can get the hops they’ll brew it and can some of it. The hop supply is why MadTree is doing what they call the High series. Galaxy High, Citra High (canning soonish), and likely other Highs coming in time.

I love the aroma of this beer so much that if I could get my beard to smell like this I’d do it in a heartbeat, oh wait I can and you can! Go check out The Beerded Beard and his limited run Big OZ. He makes hop infused beard oil and the Big OZ is Galaxy and Topaz just like Galaxy High!! I’ve rocked the Big OZ in my beard for a few months now and love it.

Update: In the same moment this post went live I got an email from MadTree that Galaxy High is now ranked as World Class on Beer Advocate! This is the first Cincinnati beer to get this high of a BA Score!