Imperial Catalina Breeze
Mile Wide Beer Co.

 

Leading the cause to make IPA bitter again, Mile Wide Brewing leads the charge with a super-powered Citra and Simcoe leading taste that thwarts away any unnecessary maltiness and places strong emphasis on dryness and bitterness for a beer that gives the old school hop heads a voice that seems to have been suppressed for far too long.

Pale gold and teeming with racy streams of bubbles, Imperial Catalina Breeze doubles down on their standard Catalina Breeze, West Coast IPA with an even bolder scent of citrus, herb and citronella spice that rolls off of its creamy white crown. As its light honey, agave and lychee sweetness greets the palate, a maltier upstart acts to support the hop onslaught to come.

The hops unfold on the middle palate with the grandeur of ripe oranges, white grapefruit and hints of gooseberry and passionfruit. With the malts quickly receding into the backdrop of flavor, the hop flavors equally as quickly develop a crisp and gripping bitterness of fresh pine, pepper and citrus peels along with a long and botanical finish.

Medium bodied and strikingly drinkable for a beer of eight-percent stature, Imperial Catalina Breeze finishes crisp, refreshing and off-clean with a somewhat dirty, piney bitterness that overwhelms the aftertaste in all the right ways. Final impressions of botanical gin, hemp and hay decorate the finish in a highly retro-olfactory way.