Shortest Day
Matchless Brewing

 

 

 

Well. I don’t usually mention my glassware, but this one went into my Föroya Bjór nonic pint, from the Faroe Islands, in the North Atlantic, not far from Iceland, which seems appropriate for a winter IPA (OK, CDA). I like CDAs, I like hazy’s, I like winter, what’s not to like? Well. Is this beer ugly? It’s certainly not pretty, but I have to guess that’s this is the way a hazy CDA really should look. Still, have you ever had Kava in Fiji or Vanuatu? It looks like a slightly brownish kava, that is to say, not really all that appealing, but I couldn’t give it less than a 3.75 because it would lower the overall too much. I just have to accept it. So let’s move on. The aroma is delicious, very fresh and hoppy, but where is the wintry quality? It’s in the taste! And excellently so! The darker malts bring the whole thing together very nicely and succeed in creating a CDA that I’m enjoying very much with snow on the ground outside. And the elegant, creamy mouthfeel is beautifully hazy all the way. Any residual uncertainty from the odd appearance is crushed by the excellence of the drinking experience.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a very hazy, very dark cola brown with a fine, one finger dark khaki head with great retention and thick lacing. Aroma of pale and dark toasted malt, citrus and piney hops, light cocoa and lemon. Flavor is dark toasted and light biscuit malt, citrus and piney hops, milk chocolate, orange and grapefruit with a little pine. Medium bodied with light to medium creaminess. An interesting hybrid of NE IPA and CDA. The dark malts do not make a very appealing color, but the aroma is nice and the flavor is intriguing. I'm a big fan of CDAs and very tepid on hazy IPAs, so I really wanted to try this; I'm glad I did. Fortunately the hazy hopping is done with some decent bitterness, and the dark malts are pretty much classic CDA base. I think the malt adds interest to the hazy hops, which tend to become less interesting to me as I drink a typical hazy IPA. This offered a nice hop bill and good supporting dark malt flavors throughout the glass. Although this won't knock the classic CDA from its perch for me, I liked this; hoppy, dark malty and different. Glad I tried it.