Castana
La Selva Cerveza Artesanal

another beer from these guys with wide abv variance between bottle label and brewery website, but nevermind that, this was one of my favorites i had from them. an english ipa thats mild in a lot of respects, but has a really neat fresh hop ipa profile thats not at all what we are used to in more traditional examples of the style. it has a little haze in its orange color, and a lot of prickly carbonation. the grains and the yeast appear english in nose and taste, but whats different here is the hops. instead of a fuggle or a magnum or something more common in english ipa, this has a more new worldy tropical complexion complete with notes of fresh tangerine, pineapple, and pine. not at all something i expected when i read this was an english ipa. its a cool ingredient introduction in the style, and despite what i would have expected, these hops are an awesome addition to the more traditional base beer, with the maltier grain bill and the bready ale yeast to finish. bitterness is very mild, and the beer tastes bottle conditioned and super fresh. i have no idea what hops they have actually used in this, but they make this beer very distinct, and i really dug it. almost a cask feel to this, even though there is a pretty high level of carbonation, it has that natural smoothness about it. very solid offering from these guys.