The Five Stages of Grief (Acceptance)
Atwood Farm Brewery

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a hazy, light to medium golden amber with a two finger white head with great retention and thick lacing. Aroma of pale and caramel malt, citrus and mixed fruit hops, orange, light mixed tropical fruit and a little diacetyl. Flavor is pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, orange, well mixed tropical fruit, grapefruit and a hint of dry caramel; no signs of the diacetyl from the aroma. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. This has been an interesting series of IPAs from this self proclaimed non-IPA brewery. The earlier ones seemed to have a more rustic character (as I'd expect from this brewery), but they proceeded to dial things in to a more traditional profile in the last ones. I was disappointed when I picked up this last in the series and saw it was a hazy IPA, one of my least favorite styles, but had to finish the sequence. I have to admit that if acceptance is the last stage of grief over what are the popular beer styles of the masses, the ultimate one to accept would be the hazy, which has become ubiquitous and swept the beer market. There was some irony for me, as I briefly returned to the denial stage when I read the can. Anyway, this seems to hit all the buttons for a hazy IPA: soft hopping, fruit flavors and even the orange-juice-left-overnight-on-table flavor that baffles me in most of this kind of IPA. I'm rating this against other hazies I've had; I am not worthy of appreciating these. I've enjoyed the series, as well as most of this brewery's offerings, and I'll certainly try any of their IPAs in the future (except hazies).