Zombie Stock
Vault Brewing Company

A generally pleasant pour emptied the entire contents of a pint can into a clear glass liter mug. Even at room temperature, the head was reasonable, especially for a hazy. The liquid is cloudy dark orange-amber in color, more dark amber than orange. Its head is off-white, with just a tint of the liquid. It's not particularly aromatic in any way. There's no pronounced IPA character, no evidence of starchiness and surprisingly, it's not especially fruity. None of this is bad. To taste, there's a pleasant inclusion of raspberry. It doesn't overpower, nor does it make this IPA sweet. There's more of a consistent bite from the hops, especially through the finish, than there is extra sweetness from the fruit. With its clean body and decent, but not overly bitter hop bite, this drinks more like a modestly fruited West Coast IPA than a typical hazy. What makes this work is the basic IPA bitter qualities and a sufficient backbone, regardless of which starches were used. Although the glass lacing was sparse, at best, the body is more than adequate. Overall, this is a delightful surprise on a few levels and much more of a success for an outside the box attempt than could be expected.