Blaze Ponies
Taft's Brewing Co.

 

While the award for "best label art" goes to Taft's, the flavor profile of candied hops, toasted malt and an overall even keel flavor is cast upon a slightly stronger than usual IPA but not quite with the viscosity of imperial status ale, they tease us with a bit more than just a catchy image.

Blaze Ponies delivers upon its whimsical properties with a radiant hoppy scent of citrus, herb and pine upon a tropical and sweet honey scent. Underneath its frothy white cap and its honey amber austere, lies a taste of honey, nuttiness and toast to round out the overall taste of granola.

As the taste develops on the middle palate, the hops quickly command the taste with a bold citrusy grip of pink grapefruit, orange peels, light lemon and a hint of apricot for a stone fruit roundness. Trending bitter, drying and herbal, a rustic and spicy bitterness of pine resins, verbena and sharper lemongrass leads to a fleeting sweetness and a dominant hop bite to close out the taste.

Medium bodied but drying beautifully, the beer's crisp and racy textures are dialed up for the fans of a more bitter IPA, but does to with the sacrifice of supreme hop flavor or aroma. Blaze Ponies is a throwback to what good IPA was fifteen years ago. By today's standards, it falls slightly shorter.