Timberbeast IPA
Wakonda Brewing Company

 

 

I sat at an outdoors table to sip this ale at a place called The Beachcomber Tavern in Florence. The Beachcomber served it in a heavy pilsner-like pint glass known as a "Budweiser Signature Glass." It was, aside from the Budweiser emblem, a very regal glass.

First impression: airy hop aroma with smells of leather and warm mash tun. I was at first rather proud of myself for detecting the ripe, skunky smell of leather. What hop variety produced this unique quality, I wondered? A moment later I looked up to discover that next door to the Beachcomber was a leather specialty store whose vibrant pungency easily invaded the outdoors seating area in front of the Beachcomber. I knew I smelled leather.

An elegant foamy head soon retreats to a casual film trailing abstract lace. The body is unfiltered orange-amber and the taste is predominantly sweet with a morose bittering that doesn't quite hold one's attention. In fact, the beer tastes more like a standard pale than an IPA and doesn't hurl those fastballs of hop magic that most of us expect from a NWIPA. It tastes like fruit punch with bitter lemon.

Drinkable, but doesn't materialize as a genuine IPA.

Happened to be visiting the Florence Oregon area, and had stopped by a local restaurant for dinner. There was a bit of a wait, so I stopped by the bar to see what they had on tap. As it turned out, they had the IPA and cream ale on tap from this heretofore new to me brewery in Florence. So what the heck, I ordered a glass of the IPA.

The beer pours a solid hazy orange color with good head retention and lacing. I get the expected citrus aroma on the nose, but with some nice sweet navel orange as well. The flavors on the palate replicate the nose and there is a nice balance to the interplay of malt and hops in this beer. It has a good bitter hop bite, but the hops are by no means overwhelming. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and this beer is quite thirst quenching. Drinkability is exceptional in this beer. I was guessing at the restaurant that the abv. was in the 7% range, but the alcohol in this beer was not the least bit intrusive.

This is a very solid IPA. It certainly didn't blow my mind, but it was quite good and I wouldn't hesitate to order it again. Both it and the cream ale seemed to be selling quite well the night I was visiting. Very nice beer.