Bass Line
Boise Brewing

fashioned as a low alcohol new zealand ipa, which sounds more like pale ale, but this is exceedingly bitter, like the bite from the hops starts super early and easily runs over any southern hemisphere hop nuance that is suppose to define these, a miss for me, even though there is an obvious freshness, the ferment is clean, and the beer quality itself is decent, the recipe is just off, and this level of bitterness is unflattering in here, is it all from new zealand varietals? i am not used to those ending up like this in beer, maybe a different approach, but not a successful one. its got a little more malt to it than is necessary, copper colored almost, lighter than that maybe, but still, im not sure how much that caramelized bready crystal malt is needed with the anticipated character of new zealand hop varietals. it smells slightly peachy, maybe overripe cantaloupe, but i cannot place the specific hops, as the grain interferes and they end up with way more harsh bitterness than character, and in the flavor its the bitterness that hits where the fruity hop climax should be, and tons of bitterness is left on the tongue, drying in a beer that isnt quite dry, and im left feeling like the whole point of this was missed. the carbonation is good, as is the ferment overall, but i didnt really care for this and dont think it does much to showcase these hops. good to see something new from these guys, but this isnt up to their usual level...