Mt. Rainier IPA (2008 IPA Project)
Sly Fox Brewing Company

Another of the single hop IPAs from Sly Fox. Same appearance as all the others - clear orange with a fine, light beige cap that left sticky lace on the glass. The hop aroma was a little more muted than I expected, letting more caramel character through. There was a light fruitiness and floral hop aroma, reminding me of some continental European varieties. Bitterness was solid, caramel appeared mid-sip and there was a balanced hop flavour throughout, similar to the aroma. It finished with lingering spicy hops. Medium bodied with average carbonation, good texture. I definitely learned something about this hop, mostly that I probably wouldn't use it alone in a beer like this. Still, the beer was highly drinkable and well made, letting the merits of the hop shine through.

had the chance to sample this at the grey lodge with lunch (which by the way, was the chicken bacon wrap....i highly suggest it). nice dark golden to amber color with a fruity aroma and beautiful head. for the style, i'd say this beer is somewhere between an east coast and west coast styled IPA. isn't a hop bomb like what you'd find on the west coast, but isn't a flowery/citrus hop server like you find in many east coast versions. outside of the ABV, this could easily be a solid session beer. the bitterness won't melt your face off so it wouldn't be too hard to blow through a few of these over the course of a good meal and fun times.

The latest IPA I was lucky enough to receive from Sly Fox from Drjay. I have been loving this series so far so I was thrilled when the next in line came out. Served into numerous pint glasses, I used this growler straight out of the fridge. The pour was nice, a very clear and very dark orange amber was coming through immediately. Very rich looking color with a nice two finger head of white foam across the top. Faded gently leaving behind a thin film on the top that lasted throughout the session with a good amount of side glass lace as well. Nice carbonation profile building here as the bubbles streaked skyward to reinforce the head. Great look for an IPA.

So a good looking IPA has started racing through my head as I go in to try and make sense of what this one is all about. Greeted immediately by a wonderful sense of pine. Deep resin like aroma, you could almost feel how fresh it was from the first whiff. Some like citrus mixing in, but cut sharply by some biscuit like notes. Nice balance here was evident already. The flavor followed suit wonderfully with a rich balanced profile. I was not overly familiar with the Mt. Rainer variety, but the flavor here has me very impressed with the subtle nature of it. Nothing harsh here at all, rather sublimely smooth with a medium bodied fullness that was quite surprising. The flavor rolled across the palate, soaking in as it goes, with a very thick presence and an almost oily like feel. Earthy, with a tremendous taste of pine sap, I was fully immersed within a few sips. Once it pushed past, the nice bready malt backbone came though in a wave, grainy at first but morphing into the semi sweet biscuity flavor that seems to accompany a finely tuned IPA. Quick hit of hops in the finish, give way to a somewhat dry finish that was dominated by a wonderfully bitter finishing note. Easily session able, this growler offered no challenge during the night, and was easily finished off while I was still searching for more.

Overall I thought this was excellent. It's hard for me to pick a favorite out of this years batches so far. They have all been very good and this is just another example of this exemplary series of beers. Another tasty treat from Sly Fox that you need to pick up if you can.