45th Parallel Oregon Style IPA
Trinity Brewing Company

 

9-18

 

For all of it's fame for its sours, this IPA is a first rate offering and up there with the best of them. Assertive pineapple nose in a clear golden color with white head. Perfect balance and rich, bright, citric flavors that is gulpable. Love this one from Trinity.

 

 

 

Selling on "Oregan-style" IPA and not necessarily "west coast" IPA, the Trinity Brewing folks use the fruit medley that only their home state hops provide to tantalize the senses and refresh the palate.

45th Parallel starts golden-straw with the common hop-hazed austere that suggests an unadulterated or unfiltered taste. Tangy citrus, pepper and tropical fruits waft onto the nose while its initial taste is thinly of caramel, honey and slight suggestions of light bread.

As the ale opens up and begins to reveal more and more of its hoppy secrets, its billowing carbonation engulfs the mouth with citrus peels- white grapefruit and slightly under-ripened orange mingle with gooseberry, mango and kiwi at its periphery. The further that the malt sweetness recedes is the more hop character that emits; culminating in a peppery, bitter finish of fresh-cut grass, sawn pine and peppercorn.

Finishing bone-dry and with a dry chardonnay bite, the beer's medium-light body is facilitated with the champagne-like effervescence that bounces the ale off the tongue and ushers in an added carbonic bite. A moderate peppery phenol nears plastic-like proportion as the ale trails with dried citrus and a tangy tropical zip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A solid IPA with nice tropical undertones from the hop bitterness. Just a touch of sweetness backs up the bitterness nicely. Not in the class of the big guns, but a solid brew that I would have again.