Beyond the Pines
Wild Ride Brewing Co.

part of a rotating ipa series and a very good, very classic northwestern ipa, maybe a touch lighter on the grain than is customary, taking a page from the new west coast, but this still has some real bitterness, a woodsy fresh hop complexion, and drinks a little nostalgic for me, nice and fresh and bold, i do miss this kind of ipa and appreciate the effort here, well refined beer overall too, not just a hop bruiser, very well done. golden to just brassy in color, lasting half inch of white head, great clarity and consistent carbonation, looks a little lighter than it drinks really, but is not out of balance as i get into it, not at all. the aroma is bright and fresh, pine and juniper, very wintery to me, brisk and dry, but not without some malt character, light honey there, nice with the apparent hop oils, some nuances of gin, bitter orange, and milled lumber, i would think this to be fairly high alpha, but its not brutal to my nose, a coolness to it as well, very nice. the flavor follows the nose, spruce up front with grapefruit pith lather, oily sort of hashy pungency to it but not overly intense or even lingering all that long on the tongue, woodsy to even kind of actually woody to me, light honey and floral character in the mix, some malt breadiness without it being heavy, neutral ferment, definitely high bitterness by the modern standard where ibus are in recession, but its not overdone and its nice where its at. i like botanical punchy ipa like this, love how fresh it presents, and i think the backing off the traditional crystal malt richness adds some contemporary relevance to it, still a classic and mostly recognizable hop complexion, just really solid beer overall in a style that is leaning toward hop products and overengineering everything. one of the better wild ride beers ive had...