Blue Wing
Arvon Brewing Co.

 

Not full, traditional West Coast — there’s a little complementary NE juiciness at play, so maybe a bit of a Midwest IPA hybrid — but it checks the right boxes for bitterness, piny resin, and pithy citrus, and is really delicious in general. A little pale for the style but golden and clear with a big foamy head. The nose is muted, with faint but attractive notes of bready malts, citrus juice, and resin. Taste is a pretty wonderful semi-sweet melange of crystal malts, grapefruit, sweeter citrus, berries, candied tropical fruits, and resiny pine. Pleasantly dank with a good pith and bitterness in the backend as the sweetness fades. And this thing has fantastic mouthfeel despite being a touch thin (for 8%), with a fantastic coating quality with a touch of stickiness that I love in a traditional WC IPA. Fantasyic offering all around.

 

Freshness was the issue, i picked it up in the store's refrigerated section so would not think freshness was the issue. I would like to have been whelmed but unfortunately under.

God I have so many Tavour beers to work my way through. And a lot of IPAs that I'm trying to drink while they're still relatively fresh. I wasn't even reaching for this one when I opened the fridge but I want to just get it cleared out, especially since it doesn't have a canning date. Let's dive right in

Pours a lightly cloudy orange gold with 3 fingers of soapy white head that slowly fades to a thin cap and leaves decent lacing

Oh yeah, this is dank and resinous in the nose, it really packs a hoppy punch. I'm picking up on aromas of bready malt, resinous hops, orange marmalade, weed, black pepper, caramel malt, and grapefruit zest

It keeps up its promise of being bold in taste as well, actually bringing even more bitterness to the table. On the front end of the sip I'm tasting earthy hops, bready malt, orange zest, pithy grapefruit, pine, black pepper, toffee, and light black tea. The swallow brings notes of orange marmalade, resinous hops, black pepper, caramel malt, pithy grapefruit, light pine, and black tea

A medium body pairs with gentle carbonation, resulting in a biting beer. Finishes dry but a bit too abrasive

While this is pretty good, I think the mouthfeel from the hops bring it down a bit. It's just not as easy drinking as I'd like it to be

NICE west coast style ipa great hop yaste with slight malt finish

Rich and clear golden body; sparse and fat carbonation bubbles; thick head, white and dense; thick, sticky sheets of foam inside the glass. Big malty nose with a bare trace of pine resin. The taste pickups on the smell; rich yet non-cloying sweetness; light caramel; faint, earthy citrus-like esters; moderate hop bitterness. Heavy body; semi-sweet feel.

A nice enough west coast-style India pale ale accentuating a malt presence more than any dominant hop flavor or bitterness.

Pouring temperature: 44 °F; canning info: n/a
Source: Tavour

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium coppery amber with a three finger white head with great retention and rocky, thick lacing; looks great. Aroma of caramel malt, citrus and piney hops, mixed stone fruit and dankness. Flavor is caramel and biscuit malt, piney, dank and citrus hops, mild orange, lightly resinous pine, herbal dankness; moderately bitter finish with lingering pine and biscuit malt. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Fun ale, like a step back in time to the primal craft IPAs with English biscuit malts, but with updated hops. The hop bill is solid West Coast with citrus and pine dominating, but here on the West Coast this style has become leaner and drier. Although I'm satisfied with the contemporary WC style, I'm always happy to run across a nice malty example and this is a pleasant one. Bitterness is a bit restrained, but the flavors are fine. Enjoyable and looks great.