Seize The Brae (Wet Hopped IPA)
Al's of Hampden / Pizza Boy Brewing

A- clear light gold color with frothy 1 finger head that leaves a hilly lacing on the pint.

S- bready malts with dominant pine and hints of citrus

F- sour citrus with light pine flavor on the back end

M- sweet and somewhat malty. medium bodied that is smooth and crisp

O- not bad but def prefer other IPA's

 

 

The hazy light golden yellow colored beer pours out into a Duvel glass with a 1/2” white head that recedes slowly but visibly to become a a thin cap and then an irregular island of foam on the liquid while leaving behind some scattered patches of lacing. Sipping reacts a few small scattered patches and legs of lacing. By mid-way through the beer there’s only a thin ring around the glass and a few widely scattered patches of lacing.

The quite light, gentle aromas are mostly about the hops and include both a bit of citrus and a touch of pine backed up with just a bit of bready malt.

The flavors are much as expected from the nose with some light citrus and pine. The light sweetness from the malt is nicely balanced by some gentle pine and and a bit of resinous bitterness.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied, fairly smooth and has some finely bubbled persistent carbonation. The moderately long ending begins as the light fruit and pine begin to recede into the background and that light touch of resinous bitterness becomes a bit more noticeable as it moves toward the back of the palate where it too fades as the ending becomes dry.

Overall this is a more subtle beer than I’d expected at first from a wet hopped beer but it seems a reasonable combination of the things I’d expect in a NE IPA that is also wet hopped. There’s the haze, the soft mouthfeel and the juiciness of the NE IPA along with the resinous bitterness from the wet hopping, but that resinous is also as light and gentle as one would expect from a NE IPA. A beer worth trying, even if only for its combination of two approaches into a single IPA.