Silhouette - Tangerine
Hudson Valley Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at The Ruck in Troy, NY.

This one pours a very hazy and milky looking bright orange color, with a small fluffy head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like pure fresh squeezed orange tangerine juice, with creamsicle, lemon rind, white wine, and lemon ice.

This is incredible, as most of the Silhouette variants tend to be. It's got such a nice slightly sweet lemony sourness, with a huge dosing of tangerine juice, a little bit sour but mostly juice sweet. There's a bit of wine, but this is mostly just a simple tangerine mimosa explosion.

This is light bodied, super creamy and drinkable, with a typical level of carbonation.

This is very straightforward but ultimately very tasty.

 

 

I've had a few sour IPAs before, and the balance always seems to be a bit towards the sour, or towards the hops - dry-hopped sours haven't been a particular favorite of mine, and sour IPAs always make me think of sour milk. Go figure, who knows why - random associations.

But, this one has somehow managed to buck the trend. Tangerine Silhouette is quite distinguishable as a tangerine-forward beer (rather than just a heavily citrus'd beer, balancing that line of grapefruit, orange, etc.). I'm impressed that Hudson was able to make that so recognizable to the palate. I like it.

The beer is listed as a "breakfast IPA", which is a bit mystifying... until you realize that this beer reminds you a bit of your morning orange juice. I can easily see substituting the one for the other, and vice versa. I don't think it would be an unpleasant experience.

A very tasty beer - nice mouth feel, light acidity, clean tangerine. Some dryness and bitterness. Pleasant levels of sour and tartness. Terrific nose, and a beautiful pour.

 

Nice look, cloudy orange-yellow with decent head. Smells of orange juice. Tastes like a mimosa, but the lactose gives off a sour milk flavor which doesn't mesh well with the rest. If the sour milk note wasn't there I could rate this higher.