Double McGill Ave
High Branch Brewing Company

 

Hazy yellow body with a hint of orange tinting, two fingers of off-white foam. Piney smell without the resin, accompanied by big tropical notes and orange. Smell is more bitter than taste. as the taste is simpler with piney hops, orange, mango, and watery peach and grapefruit peel. Feel is soft, dry and light, but never thin, a little more depth here would be helpful. Nice ipa for the summer as it is an easy drinker

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a very hazy, nearly opaque, golden orange with a one finger white head with great retention and solid lacing.Aroma of pale malt, citrus hops, orange, apricot, mild mixed fruit and a spot of dankness. Flavor of pale malt, citrus hops, orange, light stone fruit, a little dankness and hints of pine in the finish. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess. Well, I'm still trying hazy IPAs every once in a while, and aim for ones like this that are very highly rated and appear to have interesting flavor. Sadly, as with many hazies, this has only a little soft feeling bitterness that mostly shows up in the finish. On the plus side, the hops bill is quite appealing and although it leans heavily to orange, it has some nice stone fruit and even dankness to spice things up. I enjoyed this quite a bit more than most NE style IPAs, even with the tame fruit juice character of the style. I liked the oat feel and the hop flavors, but could not help feeling, with each sip, "wouldn't this be incredible with some assertive bitterness?". Alas I'm behind the times and fashions in IPAs. This is engaging enough for a style I'm not a big fan of that I'd like to try some more from this brewery. I'll be watching for an old fashioned IPA in the future.