Knowing Totem as a cutting edge craft brewery with deep affiliations with the American craft beer culture, it should come as no surprise that - among the first in Belgium - Klaas and Liesbeth tackle the 'cold IPA' style, a new addition to the meanwhile vast world of IPA variants, pioneered by Oregon-based Wayfinder a mere five years ago, with the intention of showcasing the hops in a clean, crisp way undisturbed by esters or other side products of warm fermentation. I have not yet had many cold IPAs so far - I definitely need to find the original Wayfinder version to have an 'archetype' of it - but from the very few I did have and from all the things I read about it, I hope to be able to evaluate this creation judiciously enough. Moussy, frothy, egg-white, even-bubbled and densely structured, very stable and very regular 'textbook' head on a clear, deep 'old gold' coloured beer with 'metallic' orangey tinge and fine strings of sparkling, turning only very lightly hazy in the end. Aroma of blood orange juice, ripe Cantaloupe, mango, guava, sweet onions, biscuit, hints of spice cookies, honeydew, cherimoya, marijuana and Betterfood. Crisp onset indeed, sweet and citrusy, reminiscent of mandarin, mango, ripe pepino and rambutan, refinedly but vividly carbonated with very slick, smooth-edged, oily mouthfeel; a blood-like aspect lingers along the edges of an essentially mildly biscuity (Imperial malt!), pale malt sweetish but sleek and 'full' maltiness, giving way to a very expressive, colourful, radiant but focused aromatic hoppiness, soaking everything in colours of mango, blood orange, melon and guava in a remarkably well-structured manner. Something oniony creeps up behind all this vibrant 'hop fruit', adding depth and a certain West Coast feel - which seems to have been the original intention of the creators as well. Lastly, the hops also deposit a spicy, drying but altogether accessible and elegant bitterness too, never losing contact with the sweet biscuitiness of the Imperial malt. Very sleek and clean indeed, conveying a West Coast-ish feel without actually delivering a full-fledged West Coast IPA experience - combine this with the absence of yeasty elements and a complete and utter focus on cleanness and purity of the hops, and I think Totem has indeed managed to offer a complete, unadulterated cold IPA the way this new style was intended by Wayfinder and others. I read an American article about cold IPA just prior to tasting this, just to refresh my memory, and everything the inventor of the style had to say about it in this article, is vividly and colourfully conveyed in this beer. This profound understanding of American craft beer trends is what typifies Totem, but this particular one truly astonishes me in its authenticity and purity - Klaas and Liesbeth completely and thoroughly understand the cold IPA concept, nothing more, nothing less. I am impressed by this - even if I have been following this fantastic brewing project ever since they released their firstborn (Zipacna) and they have impressed me on many occasions, this one is especially memorable for capturing the essence of a brand new style so accurately. So, to those wanting to understand the cold IPA principle and in search of American examples reaching the old continent, search no more: Totem has it all figured out and there is no doubt in my mind that this beer is equally capable of explaining cold IPA as any American example. Whether or not cold IPA is my personal cup of tea, is of no importance here.