County Western Vol. 6
Country Boy Brewing

 

 

 

Two of Lexington's more tenured breweries pull together for Craft Beer Week and fuel a frenzy with an imperial IPA that has hop heads come crawling from all over the Bluegrass.

Burnish orange and carrying a typical IPA haze, Country Western (Vol. 6) displays a frothy white cap before teasing the senses with a host of fruity filled fragrances. Stone fruit, orchard fruit, tropical and citrus all make introductions with the scent of floral honey and caramel riding closely behind. Sweet on the tongue, those caramel and honey flavors align in a taste of granola and poundcake.

And then the fruit flavors explode on the middle palate, leading with mango and peach. Succulent and somewhat exotic, other citrus fruits follow with pink grapefruit, lemon and the radiant taste of blood orange. Apricot and cantaloup round out the fruity indulgence before a spicy bitterness of freshly shaven spruce, black tea and a fresh cut grassiness usher in a late palate of bitterness and bite.

Medium full on the palate, the collaborative beer trails with a leafy, grassy, and stemmy wood spice that gives a pep to the stern alcohol flavors. A prickle of gin and vodka warms the throat while the resinous grip of hops extend into a long after palate of booze soaked fruit rinds.