Sofa King
Dirty Couch Brewing

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a very hazy, nearly opaque pineapple juice yellow with a fine, one finger white head with great retention and thick lacing. Aroma of pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, pineapple, mango, orange, melon and a touch of dankness. Flavor follows with pale malt, tropical and citrus hops, orange, grapefruit, unsweetened pineapple, mixed tropical fruit. Flavor fades into a vague fruit punch finish with lingering citrus rind hop bitterness. Medium bodied with light creaminess. I've been wanting to try this local brewery, but they concentrate on wild and sour styles, which are not appealing to me. I grabbed this, knowing that it was a hazy style pale ale, but at least a style I half heartedly like. Also a chance to see how a pale ale turns out in this hazy hopped New England style. Ironically, this has a very nice level of alpha bitterness in the finish, which is my bottom line for an enjoyable IPA or pale ale, but like many of this style, the intense hops at the start (which are pretty nice), fade away into an old juice left overnight flavor that I find in most hazy IPAs. This is nicely bitter, redeeming this from total "old juice" character, but the same drop in flavor into sparse juice is here. Lots of hop flavor and the citrus/tropical profile that is popular for NW hazies; I suspect this will be very satisfying to those who enjoy this style. Well made and I'll try something else from these guys again if I run across a style I like.