Dagger Falls - El Dorado Oil
Sockeye Grill & Brewery

the latest cask edition of dagger falls, seems like a new hop oil on every time i am in, which has been quite frequently over the last couple of months. this is easily the most pungent of the several i have had in this format so far, either they upped the dose of the hop oil pretty significantly, or somehow the el dorado is more potent and intense than the others, i suspect the former. this also looks a touch deeper in color than the others, maybe just me, but it appears a shade redder than i am used to, frothy thick inch of white head from the hand pump though, looks nice in the pint glass. the aroma and flavor here are not the melon and tropical character i am used to from this varietal, it kind of bulldozes right past that into a more intense realm of pine and grapefruit peel, its immediately bitter and dominating, kind of takes over the senses, a fresh milled white pine lumber character more in line with a centennial or something, a little weedy dankness, and full on oily slickness in the feel, totally palate coating and lasting pretty intensely everywhere in my mouth long after the swallow. this is on the edge of overdone, but because its oil and not hop pellets its never green or bitey or harsh to drink, even though it sure is bold. definitely not for everyone, i was impressed with my wife for liking it as much as she did, shes a boss. the cask texture is smooth and mellow and on point here as always, they do better than anyone around with this generally speaking, but the oily feel of the beer makes it unique. definitely a polarizing drink around our table, and a weird expression of el dorado at this level of pungency, but a really enjoyable beer, seems right for fall, i dug it!