Cleat Hitch
Mainstay Independent

 

 

 

The lightly hazed, golden amber-colored beer pours out into a Duvel glass with a 1 1’2” white head that recedes slowly but visibly to a cap while leaving lots of lacing on the sides of the glass. Sipping creates lots of small and medium sizes of patches of lacing with an occasion ling stringy leg or two of lacing. Eventually, the cap of foam becomes a small ring and an irregular thin island of foam.

The aromas are spicy, citric and flowery with some grapefruit. There’s also some malt, some pine resin and what seems to be a bit of earthiness.

The flavors are much as expected from the nose with some spicy floral citric bitterness up front that also has some grapefruit and pine resin showing. All this is well balanced by the malt backbone that adds just a bit of malty background sweetness to the mix

The mouthfeel is on the light side of medium-bodied, clean, crisp and lightly prickly from the steady moderate carbonation. The finish begins as the entire flavor profile begins to fade slowly away to a dry lightly bitter and resinous ending.

On the whole, this is both an enjoyable and a drinkable “classic” APA and showcases the C hops (Cascade, Centennial & Chinook) very nicely. The malt backbone stays in the background while the hops are showcased upfront. I’ll definitely have this one again since it nicely scratches an itch for a classic APA.