Head Shake
Barley Brown's Brewpub

On-tap; chill-hazed gold with minimal head. Hop oil, earthy, grapefruit zest, green pine needles, resin, malty, bitter, lemon, feels big and almost boozy...alcohol definitely makes its presence known along with the hop bitterness.

i trust these guys unequivocally with the hoppy stuff, and they often crush it with the strong ones too, so i was pumped for this. its nice beer, but its generic to me, not as compelling as most of their others, and the alcohol presence is robust in nose and feel, its downright hot, especially for its level of actual strength, seems maybe overexposed, and even when its good and cold, and its borderline too much at temperature. its neat how light the malt is, like this is dry for a double and very pale, but i almost miss a little more balance. the hops are potent right from the start, northwestern and piney, oily, green, fresh as can be but too familiar to raise much stoke or wow factor for me, its thoroughly west coast, and i appreciate this type of beer in this day and age where everything seems to need to be hazy, but there is nothing here that makes this stand out. medium bodied at the most, a long bitter finish, fire breathing aftertaste, god carbonation and intangibles, but i definitely expected this to do a little more for me than it did. excellent with spicy food though, i feel like that brought it to life a little more. solid if you miss the classics and dont mind some heat!

 

 

Draft at PreFunk Nampa. Orange/bold Pour, small creamy head. Tart citrus aroma. Taste follows with some juicy citrus, sweet, late tartness. Then bitter. Double? Hard to tell, very smooth. Delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from growler. Pours a medium coppery amber ith a half finger white head that dissipates to patches with slight lacing. Aroma of citrus, piney and dank hops, light caramel malt, tropical fruit with light citrus juice, smells good. Flavor is resinous piney and dank hops, neutral, slightly swet malt with a hint of caramel, melon, lemon citrus, light mixed tropical fruit, finish with a burst of quite resinous piney, earthy and citrus hops. Medium bodied with light creaminess and good carbonation, nice mouth feel. Hop profile is classic Northwest hop mixture, with a great combination of piney and dank elements as well as light citrus. A sneaky IPA that at first seems flavorful, bit not intensely hoppy, but mid taste in to the finish the resinous alpha oils really come forward. The malt is almost neutral, but supports the flavor throughout, even with the hop onslaught. Nice lingering hop flavors with a hint of malt to support them. Great flavors, interesting flavor progression and finish. A very nice imperial IPA. Glad this showed up in Seattle, largely because of this brewery's participation in the locally popular Fort George 3-Way (which is also pretty darn good). Didn't know these guys before, but this shows that they were are great choice for the collaboration. Look forward to trying more.

 

 

 

 

 

Tasted in a pint glass from a growler on March 30, 2016.