Don't Fool Yourself
Threes Brewing

 

 

 

While IPA can often times portray fruit flavors and in striking familiar form. But don't fool yourself, even the fruitiest flavors can still be an IPA. Threes Brewing gives us an hop bomb of an IPA that's a reminder of this with each and every sip.

Pouring on the slight taupe side of golden and orange, Don't Fool Yourself skirts the ale with a dense blanket of white foam while greeting the nose with bold citrus, herbal, tropical and melon impressions. Slightly citronella-like in its fruity and dank perfume, the taste soon leads into a creamy sweetness of vanilla, pastry dough and shortcake.

But there's no mistake about it, the star of the show is the Citra hops. A bold taste of mandarin orange, vanlencia, tangerine and kumquat carry a branch-ripe radiance of citrus with hints of lemon and red grapefruit in tow. Trending juicy with cantaloupe, apricot and mango, the fruit cocktail is nearly complete. An herbal taste late invites a quicky and drying bitterness that carry impressions of grapefruit, hemp and peppery tea.

Full bodied but trending on the drying side of malty-dry, the beer finishes with strong citrus peels, citrus oils and a pleasant pithy resinous quality, the ale extends with a creamy bitterness and a refreshing demeanor overall.

Pours brownish orange, only slightly brown though. Head is white that quickly goes bye bye, but leaves a little head around the edge of glass. Decent lacing. Nose is citrus, pine, and mango I think. Taste is much like the nose, mango and citrus. Follow through is a slight bitterness that slowly fades. Like the lingering bitterness on the back of the tongue. Good beer.

Can from the brewery in Brooklyn. Pours a medium hazy golden orange with a finger of rocky white head that sticks around, decent lacing, smell is orange creamsicle, orange blossom, orange slices, pithy orange juice concentrate, chewy caramel, hints of vanilla and saltwater taffy, taste is orange cake, orange juice, candied orange slice, orange zest, mild pith on the finish, feel is medium bodied, medium carbonation, dry. An excellent showcase of Citra, candied orange soup.

Canned 1/25/22

This may be the freshest IPA I've ever had outside of homebrew or Born Yesterday.

Says double IPA on the can, but straight up looks like a hazy. Looks better than most in the category, though. Murky, pulpy pineapple juice with a dense head of glimmering little bubbles. Smells like opening a fresh pack of citra hops. I love that smell, personally, and would like very much to find a candle with this particular essence trapped inside. That's kind of it on the nose, though. No subtlety, just raw hop. Taste brings freshly squeezed orange juice and bitter grapefruit rind. It's tasty, but the hops kind of beat you over the head and mask any malt presence. Dare I say this is too fresh? Mouthfeel lands just shy of medium-bodied, but has a soft fluffiness that makes things go down smooth. I think my palette is wrecked from the hops, though. Gonna be cheap bourbon and ginger beer the rest of the night.