Fijne droge classic west coast IPA

Collab of two of California's most iconic craft brewers, a West Coast IPA - the original American IPA substyle from way before all that juicy stuff came along, a substyle both Stone and AleSmith master like few other breweries. From tap at Dok Brewing Company in Ghent, thanks Craftmember for sharing. Thick and mousy, snow white, stable head lacing in shreds over a misty deep golden beer with warm peachy tinge. Luscious, very expressive, vibrant bouquet of fresh orange peel, mandarin, lemongrass, kaffir lemon leaves, dry marijuana, Szechuan pepper, freshly mowed lawn, toasted onion, acacia honey, field flowers. Restrainedly fruity onset, subdued sweetishness with notes of unripe pear and banana peel, lively carbonated but not too harshly numbing and fit for the style; supple cereally malt body with biscuity edges, supporting a long, dry, very expressively hoppy finish with a very colourful, grass-green-yellow retronasal quality to it reminiscent of kaffir lime leaf, yuzu peel, basil, fresh grass and exotic pepper, depositing a long, powdery, oily, lightly resinous bitterness on the root of the tongue. Collaborations like this only relatively rarely are the sum of their two parts in my opinion - but this is absolutely spot on, a more than brilliant IPA, crisp, highly aromatic and refreshing, vibrant as the Californian sun. This is the kind of IPA I love first and foremost and I'm glad to see such a beautifully radiant example of the old West Coast style suddenly pop up.

Zoet, hop, beetje pine en resin. Lekker.