Flavor Savor
Matchless Brewing

the life saver packaging sold me on this one, but so did the vic secret hops in it, felt like those were hot in hazy ipa for a minute but have really died off recently, maybe its an availability thing, but i developed a real taste for them in this style, so was excited to see this. these guys have struggled from freshness or handling issues in idaho, or both, a lot of the hoppy beers have been lackluster as a result, and this one seems a little bit tired too unfortunately, despite being less than two months old. that said, its nice beer, frothy and fluffy feeling, well hopped, still with some bitterness, and with vic secret pretty apparent in aroma and flavor, even with a little hop fade, citra and chinook doing their respective things around it, at opposite ends of the hop spectrum for sure, so this is pretty full character. murky and lightly grey, which i have noticed in some of their others, brewed with corn which i expected to lighten it up some, but visually it really doesnt, short white head but lots of bubbles from the can, orange candy, lemon, and just a little cereal malt to this, short of toast or sweet, but it has some character, oily, slightly dank, peach nectar, cantaloupe, fairly pungent. the flavor isnt quite as stacked as the nose but its good, some pine and bitterness and lumber character from the chinook but also complimentary late citrus, i get coconut and pineapple in this too, lemon curd, and lime leaf, even with a little oxidation and odd yeastiness for a second, its quite tasty, but overall to me is lacking the refinement i want from something priced premium from such a reputable producer like this, i just expected a tad bit more out of it, some grain heft slowing it down slightly, again not really what i expected the corn to bring, but good balance really, some late bitterness but not outrageous or anything, cool hop flow through it, maybe a hint of that iconic white life saver at the end as it has warmed, good marketing. i bet when this was on tap at the source at peak freshness it was wonderful, it didnt make it to idaho in that great of shape, but its a fun one anyway, and i am glad to see the loads of new matchless beers around, i just wish i could trust them to be a little fresher tasting when they showed up, this has been the case on numerous occasions with their hoppy stuff now, even in code like this one, like its gotten warm somewhere along the way or something...