6.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Draught pint at Redbones on 12/8/06
Graham cracker colored liquid has hues of gold and light orange. White head atop is medium in size, mostly well-retained and provides moderate lacing. Medium to medium-high clarity, unfiltered it seems, but the yeast is well-dropped out having been cold-rested for a while now.
The nose seems to be the best feature. Lime skins play with light apple and cherry notes, giving way to medium-sweet orange and light grapefruit. Not at all what I was expecting. Though the fresh, aromatic, juicy hop flavor is somewhat short-lived compared to some of the best in the style, it’s great while it lasts. It gives way to caramel and honey, with some toastiness mixing with the citrus to provide typical yellow fruit notes. Caramel sweetness grows, getting somewhat dominant, after warming. Alcohol is well-controlled.
Not as much of the juicy, fresh hop character seen in the nose comes through in the flavor. It gets rather citric and bitter quickly, with a then abrupt transition in to sticky, sweet caramel and pale maltiness. IBUs collect on the palate and though the brisk carbonation tries to cut things, it only marginally succeeds. It becomes too simple in the end (sticky sweet base malt and citrus) with growing alcohol warmth and biting hop acids. Some floral notes can be glimpsed but are mainly drowned out. Still, the aroma starts out very nicely and while the texture is a bit sticky and the beer too sweet ultimately, it isnt thin, washed out and predictable, as is the norm here. Look at me, I’m the high rater of a Harpoon product ;)