West Wing
District 96 Beer Factory

 

 

 

Very excited to try this.

L: 3.25. Yeah, its not very West Coast looking. This reminds me more of the early New England genre of IPAs with some translucency and a darker tinge.
S: 4. I got this nice and fresh, Ripe fruits, Citrus. Biscuity malt. Piney hops.
T: 4 This is very nice, Well rounded with hop bitterness and fruity sweetness. Definitely more West Coast in execution than D96's NE IPAs. The hop bitterness and subsequent malty finish is the star here rather than pungent fruity flavors. Resinous and green.
F: 3.25. Medium to heavy in mouthfeel. For a West Coast inspired IPA I expect a snappier mouthfeel on the lighter to medium side.
O: 4. I think people are giving this a bad rap because they're reviewing it as a West Coast style IPA but in actuality its West Coast inspired. That being said its not bad by any stretch of my imagination.

 

Can from Vinyl Beer on the UES NYC. Pours a clear medium amber with a finger of fluffy white head, nice lacing, smell is green musty spicy dank pine, pine pitch, sticky pine cone, caramel malts, candied grapefruit peel, taste is big husky dark bread malts, malt cotton candy, hints of caramel, transitions to spearmint, savory herbs, dank peppery weed on the finish, minimal pithy bitterness, feel is medium bodied, soft carbonation, sticky. A balanced gourmet herbaceous west coast IPA.

This one pours a dark and somewhat muddy/hazy orange color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells maybe a little oxidized, with a big malt sweetness, and piney hops.

This is definitely messy and muddled, and not a great take on a West Coast-style IPA. It might be oxidized, or it might just be too sweet for the style. I've liked the other IPAs I've had from District 96 better than this - it seems like they're really only proficient at hazy IPAs. It's just too malty, and the hop character is just vaguely and non-descriptively bitter.

This is light bodied, but syrupy at the same time, with not much drinkability to it.

This was a mistake to buy - I won't be looking for it again.

D96's take on a West Coast IPA....a reddish amber that reminded me of gingerbread. It had a good amount of haze to it, although not turbid, is still definitely not textbook. Soapy white head. Standard pink grapefruit aroma, traces of melon and papaya, jack fruit, musty dankness, and very sweet overall. Medium-light body, smooth, crisp finish. Musky grapefruit flavor, nebulous dankness like Zebra Striped fruit gum found under the couch and then all flavors chewed at once. Bitterness is light to moderate that does linger...could be heavier to combat the conflicting sweetness of the aroma. Husky sweet graininess. Lacked the cleanness, the assertiveness, and the pithiness I associate with the WC style. This beer seems a little muddled to me.