Salmon Says
Humble Sea Brewing Co.

It is gold color, mostly transparent. Foam is coarse, a finger thick, no lacing on glass. It smells dank, showing citrus, melon, Rhubarb herb, weedy and jasmine floral. The beer is medium to full body, with a foamy mouth feel. I’m drinking the last can in a 4 pack, I remember this beer shows some lychee aroma when it’s more fresh. My can is about 3-4 weeks old now. The beer shows citrus and a bold malty aroma, like a classic west coast DIPA. And then the beer shows marmalade, mango, honeydew and some lettuce leafy aroma. But those fruity aromas are not very strong, they are mild. The leafy hoppiness is clear, but I found it’s not dank, more like lettuce’s mild leafy aroma. The beer is lightly boozy, which can boost the fruitiness. But this is not a very dramatic DIPA, there’s no ester bomb no over bitter hops attack. I found this is actually a sit back DIPA to me. It’s not the classic DIPA from west coast which have a stronger malt backbone, and sometimes more bitter. This beer use those aromatic hops, have fair bitterness, but doesn’t show enough character. It’s a quality West Coast DIPA, but the DDH is not impressive. If you are on the beach, you may take it if you prefer strong beer. But I will not remember what I drink, it’s not dramatic.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a lightly hazy, medium golden amber with a one finger white head with good retention and solid lacing. Aroma of lightly caramel malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, tangerine, lemon, mixed tropical fruit. Flavor is pale malt, citrus and lightly dank hops, grapefruit, pine, light mixed stone and tropical fruit, green melon. Finishes with dankness, citrus rind and mixed fruit and solid bitterness. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. The concept of a DDH West Coast style IPA is a bit muddled, but these hybrids seem to be the wave of the (near?) future, and I'm glad I can sample new breweries with something that at least leans to a West Coast style. This has a solid West Coast profile of citrus and pine, but with the expected fruitiness of a dry hopped IPA. This has one of my favorite features of the latter; wisps of fruit esters randomly throughout the taste, but not the density of a fruit bomb. Salmon Says has an interesting and enjoyable hop bill combining more traditional citrus and pine with melon and mysterious mixed fruit flavors. It has a fine, moderately strong alpha oil hop bitterness in the finish. I really liked this one and it makes me want to sample more from this brewery.