Straight forward ipa, dry hopped

Review copy from October, best by 1/23/16. A little late to the party on this, but it’s been kept in the fridge all this time. It can kick up a pretty fluffy head when poured. There’s a lightly filtered body, showing some haze in a light copper colored malt. The smell carries some hops, of course, just a bit of citrus fruit, not much bitterness to the nose. There is some sharp bitterness in the first taste, that insinuates itself around the edges of my tongue to the back. That’s the dry hopping for sure. There’s a slight note of fruit that tries to stand up under the main bittering, but it gives up and becomes hard to distinguish. It does have the saving grace of a sweet, slightly toasty malt background, which almost comes close to balancing against the hops. This still is not likely to be the best starter beer for someone who doesn’t care for bitter stuff, but it’s a good beer for the hophead to explore.

Bottle. A- Soap, oranges, herbs. A- Orange color, clear liquid, white head. T- Tangerines, soap, pine. P- Medium body, average texture, average carbonation, unbalanced finish. O- Pretty soapy with some orange. Could be a lot worse, but overall a very mediocre IPA.

Bottle from Total Wine in Folsom, CA. Pours a gusher. Calms to hazy gold and a white head. Light fruit/floral hop. Med + body. Flavor is mixed fruit/floral/citrus/maybe earth. It is bitter, but it has a cooked malt aspect. The hop is in good quantity, but hard to obliterate that slightly distasteful flavor. Bitter does build with time, and that does help. If it started like it seems to finish, I’d have been happier. Ah well, hop heals all.

12 oz bottle. Aroma is pretty lackluster, but it’s a bit perfumy, floral, wheat cracker, bready, light whiff of vomit. Pours clear golden with a thick cream-colored head with excellent retention, leaving some lace. Taste is caramel malt sweet, lightly bitter, simple, restrained; some piney hop notes become noticeable after the glass sits for awhile. Not much to recommend here. Edit: after choking this down with a bowl of clam chowder, the beer somewhat redeems itself. That sounds harsh, though. It does pair nicely with the soup, which encourages the hoppy characteristics to come to the fore, making me up my taste score by two points. So it ain’t all that bad.

12oz twist off cap bottle pours with a deep gold body that supports a light tan head of foam. The mild aroma offers up bits of dusty crusty yeast, a thin layer of citrus like hops, an earthy vaguely hop sensation and then just clean odor free air. The taste delivers lightly roasted maltiness, lightly bitter pine and maybe citrus hops and then a sense of their house ale yeast (it probably states “ale” right on the bottle somewhere). The modest hop bitterness and slight malty roastiness hang in there right into the finish. Decent. I’d happily take this over a Four Peaks Kilt Lifter any time

Not bad. Pours a clear, golden yellow, with good-sized head. Aroma of floral and citrus hops. Some grassiness. Flavor is rather sweet, with a good hop bite, some citrus and tropical fruit. Pretty well-balanced with the malt and grain. Finish is quite bitter. Not too bad.

12 ounce bottle into tulip glass; no bottle dating, but is a recent release. Pours slightly hazy deep golden yellow color with a 2 finger dense and rocky off white head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice dense soapy lacing clings around the glass. Aromas of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, mango, melon, lemon zest, orange peel, pine, light caramel, biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of citrus/tropical/piney hops and moderate bready malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, mango, melon, lemon zest, orange peel, citrus rind, pine, light caramel, biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness. Moderate amount of pine/citrus rind bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, mango, melon, lemon/orange peel, pine, light caramel, biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice robustness, complexity, and balance of citrus/tropical/piney hops and moderate bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Moderate amount of dryness from bitterness as well. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, and fairly sticky/creamy balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a very good IPA. All around good robustness, complexity, and balance of citrus/tropical/piney hops and moderate bready malt flavors; and very smooth and easy to drink. A very enjoyable offering.