Cryo Mosaic Nuggets
450 North Brewing Company

really good to break up the slushy fruit beers with something a little more in my lane, and this is a real solid ipa, modern and clean and really flavorful for using just one hop, although i am not sure about calling it a double at this abv, maybe 20 years ago, but this is like standard in the style now i feel like, anyway adding it as an imperial to go with what they call it. just a little richer looking than blonde but well short of orange, unfiltered rather than hazy in appearance, backlit and bright, with an inch of frothy white foam from the can, looks appetizing. it smells like dehydrated pineapple like the kind you find in the airport with the pseudo healthy snacks, and it also smells like weed, fresh and sticky and peppy, ever so slightly green but thats not part of the flavor, high saturation with the cryo, and that slightly crystalline thing that i get from that sometimes, subtle peach and apricot, pale two row barley could be about it on the grain side, its basic there, but fresh, and the ferment is near neutral, really pretty simple and well refined. i love how the mosaic pops in the flavor, the cryo is like an exclamation mark on what we already know and love about mosaic, and this almost takes me back to when this hop was first hitting the scene. light coconut, white pine, and orange in the mix as well. its smooth and somewhat quick, with a bit of back end bitterness and an almost refreshing texture, crazy high carbonation pushing it along swiftly. i think this is excellent, its layered and nuanced and delicious, and its cool that a brewery known for putting boatloads of fruit puree into kettle sours can also execute an ipa thats worthy of some attention. would love to dip into some others from this nugget series, liked this one a lot!