Super West Coast
Illumination Brewing / Funk Brewing

 

On tap at The Pressroom in Lancaster PA. Pours a slightly hazy medium gold with a brief off-white head. Not muchlacing. Initial impression is subtle citrus, grapefruit, and maybe mango. Mouthfeel is clean and slightly astringent. Finish fades to slightly resinous citrus. Overall, quite enjoyable.

No problems with the pour to empty the contents of a pint can into a clear glass liter mug. There's a display of just-off-white foam that dissipates quickly, leaving only a scant head. The beer body is light copper-amber, on the bright side, yet mildly cloudy. It's a good looking beer. The aroma has some of the characters described on the label, pineapple, tangerine and coconut, but it's not pronounced. For the nose, there's almost no malt, nor starch of any kind; but, that's not expected from this style. To taste, it's a good representation of the style. The hops dominate the taste and somehow they bring reminders of the aforementioned fruits, yet remain very dryly bitter. Remarkably, the taste is consistent from onset to finish. It's never close to being sweet, nor does it finish with a disagreeable bitterness. It does come up a little short in the piney and/or resinous bite this style is noted for. As for the mouthfeel, it's good enough for a category that's not known for it. There's modest, but stratified glass lacing. Overall, this can disappoint for its lack of a West Coast style bite, although the dryness is there. But, judged without category considerations, this is way above average for a modern American IPA.