Upstream
Woodland Empire Ale Craft

solid ipa here done with yaya and lost grove, which i thought was like the same company now or something? anyway, it uses salmon safe hops and is light and good, restrained bitterness but a lot of hop punch, modern and i think quite well refined, would love to know a little more about it, but its a successful brew with a nice botanical and fruit back and forth from whatever hops are in it. yellow in color, relatively clear, pretty tall and lasting white head from the tap, and with excellent and consistent carbonation, which keeps it light and even refreshing as ipa goes, well done with the texture on this. the nose and flavor are bright, at first its like green melon and meyer lemon, peppy and kind of summery, maybe a juniper wrinkle, which tees up some white wine fruitiness and a green tea bitterness both, its got a fair bit of hop complexity but the rest of the beer is quite simple, neutral ferment, very light crackery pale barley foundation, good minerality and water chemistry and all, very tight and tidy, so the hops really pop. warms to more bitter with even a late hop spiciness to it, lemon stays, some of the more delicate floral and herbal notes drop out and the citrus kicks up as it sits, but it stays drinkable and distinctive at the same time. sort of a time capsule of the right now in hoppy beer, bold and new hop character but minimal out of the way beer in every other respect, backed off bitterness. good to great, nice to have something new from woodland, they have not been as prevalent around the market of late, this was a welcome sight.