Wet Hop Stratacaster
Riip Beer Co. - Brewery & Tap Room

fresh hop season rules, and this is a banger. while ive never had the original stratacaster with normal strata, i can imagine its similarly excellent, but this one pops, totally dripping with the essence of this incredible hop, and this immediately skyrockets toward the top of my list of wet hop beers this year, super compelling, clean, and with such a pure identity of strata specifically, right from the field. i think part of its success is in its simplicity, particularly on the grain side, where this is basically just pale malt, i dont get a whole lot of frills in flavor or texture, so the hops can really shine, the body is more from hop oils it seems than from malt heft, and the candied character here comes from the wet hops not from any residual sugar, really nice and tidy as a base beer. this may have been lightly bittered with some pellets, but its the wet strata that defines it for sure. huge nose of fresh crushed pineapple, tangy lemon, sticky weed, and sweet coconut, amazing hop profile with just a little green onion thing to it which i dont even mind. oily and slick, the grain seems as fresh as the hops do as this warms, and there is a piney back end i have not really associated with strata like this before, perhaps a product of some vegetal matter in the beer, the freshness is just off the chain here, and i like all of it. its also cool how clean this is, like it doesnt burn, it doesnt stay with me, its not a permanent palate decision, not a kitchen sink thing as many of them are, its tidy and drinkable as can be, bright and lively feeling, fast finishing, refreshing even, and this gives me a real stoke for riip, need to track down some more of their hoppy beer asap. this is a total winner, not to be missed, a top strata beer ive ever had...