Sour IPA
Birds Fly South Ale Project

 

I'm rating this beer as a sour/wild ale more than an IPA. It's hard to detect the hops in the beer, neither on the hot nor cold side of its brewing, but as a slightly hopped sour, this is a phenomenal brew! I get a slight hoppy aroma more than I get the flavor or bitterness of the hops. The look is perfect as a sour, but a deficit if this was rated as an IPA...the smell is amazing as a sour, with obvious lacto undertones and slight hops coming through...this beer taste spectacular as a sour, but would lose any formal competition miserably if entered as an IPA...the low pH pucker continues on the tongue and palate like any quality sour, but again would be far off if rated as an IPA...overall, I appreciate the experimentation and unique (for the area) new style approach, but I can barely detect any characteristics of an IPA among the overly dominant sour deliciousness and perfect pucker factor. As a sour I'd almost give it 4.5's across the ratings, but as an IPA it would get more like a 2.5 across the ratings.