Fourth & 20
Uinta Brewing Company

 

fresh hop ipa done with strata, clean and basic, a little maltier than it needs to be, almost old school in that regard, a touch sweet, identifiable as strata though, and extremely fresh to me, which is what makes it, a ripper of a pint, almost more pale ale proportions on it than ipa, with restrained bitterness and quite a bit of the grain coming through in nose and taste, good beer though, and nice to have a new one from these guys. clearish and dark honey colored from the tap under an inch of frothed up and lasting near white head. the nose hints at cooked citrus, fresh coconut, and honeydew melon, lightly oily but too fruity to really be dank in the traditional sense, some spruce in there as it warms, very fresh. the flavor is a bit tropical up front, key lime, more coconut, a hint of fleshy mango sweetness, but i also get a heart breadiness to it and a little malt sweetness, which cut into the hops a little i reckon, even faintly metallic as it warms, fresh and pleasant overall, but the hops seem almost muted. pine resin, white grapefruit, green grape, ripe melon, and like a bee pollen thing, decidedly fresh the whole way, and with some linger because of the sweetness and overall lack of bitterness as american ipa goes, even fresh hop ones. solid top to bottom, and a fine showcase of strata in this context, but not one of the more impressive examples from the region this year, so many killer fresh hop beers to choose from, this one doesnt quite measure up to what the best of the best are doing. good easy food beer though, clean and well made.