Cold Kush
Wayfinder Beer

 

The beer pours a fairly light hazy gold amber color with pretty good head retention and lacing. On the nose, this is all juice. I get considerable orange and grapefruit citrus, with some underlying pineapple and mango. The flavor profile replicates the nose in this easy to drink ipa. The beer has a pretty low level of bitterness, but it's enough to counter and balance the moderate sweetness. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, with some light bitterness in the finish. Seems like there's a touch of heat from alcohol in the finish, but it's not too obtrusive.

Decent effort from the folks at Wayfinder and Great Notion, though it's not too dissimilar from a lot of other hazies on the market today. Probably would not order again.

Can from Orenco Taphouse. Thanks for the recommendation, Eric!

A hazy, murky light yellow with a dense white head with good retention and lacing this looks good. The nose starts off as a generic hazy, with a blend of mango, pineapple and peach, with some green grapes thrown in for good measure. A mild citrus note is present too. What is appealing here is how the hops are clean and focused, instead of being a mess. A mild coconut note is present as well. The palate opens with a good blend of fruit and juice, with a mild bitterness present. The decocted malt adds a great counterpoint to the juicy hops, with a complex , grainy sweetness, delicately doughy , with a light straw note. The finish is bitter, especially so for the style, which really elevates the beer, amplifying the fruity notes. Sweet yet light on the finish with notes of pineapple, coconut, mango and peach, this is quite tasty.

16-ounce can purchased from John's Marketplace. Canned on 6/02/2020. Poured into a nonic half-pint.

My appreciation of Wayfinder beers is well documented in the NW forum. So is my skeptical-but-generally-positive-ambivalence about Great Notion beers. This is a very interesting collaboration, and I am unreservedly eager to sample the results.

Appearance:
Looks like orange/pineapple juice. A pale, translucent yellow-orange, with a couple millimeters of ivory foam that leaves attractive lacing.

Smell:
Mango and grapefruit with a little of that "dank"/"resin"/"petroleum" character I always associate with tropical hops like Mosaic or Strata. Slightly sweet with floral undertones.

Flavor:
An initial burst of ruby red grapefruit and overripe mango leads predictably into the creamy/cereal-like note I get from most hazy IPAs. This is right about the time that the flavor vanishes and fails to live up to the promise of the nose.

But no! The flavor persists! It takes on an interesting coconutty note and moves ahead with big tropical character. Underneath it all, there is a gathering bitterness like the heat from a good curry: doesn't seem like much at first, but keeps accumulating and turns into something formidable.

Feel:
Slightly heavy, with the soft and round feel typical of NE IPAs. Carbonation provides a welcome bite that would otherwise be absent from this beer by design.

Overall:
This hazy IPA has flavor from end to end and finishes with significant bitterness. Hooray!

Would drink again.