Hop Static, Ch. 6
West Sixth Brewing Company

 

 

You think you've seen this show before but its not a rerun. Its a remastered version of the more bitter, drier and strikingly resinous version of IPA that we used to see in regularly programmed store shelves. This one's made of Simcoe, Chinook, Amarillo, Centennial for a taste of nostalgia but also an update in technique for smoothness and flavor.

West Sixth's Hop Static, Ch. 6 kicks off with a deep golden, medium amber hue. Held in an unfiltered haze, the beer soon crowns with a dense off-white cap. Fruity aromas circulate around citrus while a more herbal perfume of grasses, spruce and hemp drift about the senses. Sweeter to taste, the beer greets the tongue with caramel, light toast honey and faint toffee.

But anything seeming sweet or malty is short-lived as the grains break apart and the hop flavors come flooding in. Candied grapefruit, orange and lemon are all equipped with pith, peel and pulp while dried pineapple and nectarine pull from the ester profile and link up seamlessly with the hop flavors. Trending herbal, bitter and sharply grass, the late palate is choked full of drying resins, pine needle, fruit peels, chive and hemp.

Malty-dry to start the beer achieves a mostly dry finish while celebrating those old school bitternesses and their associated fruitiness. To old school hop heads, this beer is a squeal that out performs the original.