Illusion of Choice
Green Cheek Beer Company

Tastes even sweeter than seeing Virginia Mayo in the theater. Has me feeling fine like when I’m in the California sunshine. Aroma so good I’m feeling divine. Feeling all over the place like an astronaut lost in space. No, Raul is not at war, because with Illusion of Choice he has scored.

Canned on 5/10/22; consumed on 5/28/22

Pours a turbid, milky mango-gold body capped with multiple fingers of fluffy, soapy, white foam; solid head retention leaves a thin cap, a moderate, frothy collar, and a light spattering of webby/spotty lacing spread across the walls of the glass.

Aroma opens to white gummy bears meeting an almost savory melon rind, with grapefruit peel amplifying pumpernickel crusts as baked pineapple and lychee mark the back end, and musty passionfruit lingers through the close.

Taste features white grape juice flowing over melon and a subtle, sweet bready malt undertone upfront, with residual peppery spice meeting quiet lemon zest over the mid-palate into grapefruit and mossy resins on the back end; a taut orange twang tinds sweeter, danker tangerine pulp on the finish.

Mouthfeel offers a body on the fuller side of medium with moderate carbonation; a dense texture establishes a fluffy heft cut with an underlying grit through the mid-palate, resulting in a pseudo-bitterness on the back end as a distant twang contrasts silky resins on the close.

Dominant white grape overtones are marked with a citric twang consistently invigorating detail as peppery malt character supplements a fine balance between earthy resins and pulpy fruits; a NETIPA made freely consumable via the fluffy, silky glide creating flow among a burly hop showing.

Sweet tropical hoppy, orange/tangerine citrus, and faint hint of hoppy dank nose on this one! Taste follows with a juicy and soft, orange citrus bitter finish...some hoppy dank notes linger on the back of the throat for a bit. This is really well-balanced between the citra and galaxy hops...and hides the ABV well. This is really good!

Batch 2! 11/12/21: Sweet orange-tangerine citrus, hint of earthy/grassiness, and hoppy citrus-dank nose on this one! Wowza...Citra is main player here on the aromatics! Taste follows with a balanced and beautiful, tropical hoppy and orange citrus bitter finish...both hop profiles show up on the palate and a little booziness shows up on the backend. This is creamy-soft on the palate. Batch 1 was great, but this one is better! Fantastic!

From the uber hazy straw colored body under a soapy white head, to the hyper grapefruit, ripe orange, and mango aromas, to the juicy oranges and grapefruit that vie with the mango for flavor supremacy, this Howitzer of a juicy TIPA is unrelenting.

A flavor piledriver of juicy tropical flavors, the booziness almost comes through, but is subdued in the end. A really nice example of the style and my first experience with this brewery. I’ll be back for more.