Hazy Series Volume 8
Western Collective

Draft at Western Proper. Hazy straw color, skimpy head. Aroma is grapefruit peel, a little lemon. Taste is a lot more citrus zest, grapefruit and lemon. Tart, sweet.

among the best of these so far, thick and orange toned, pale and uniformly frosted looking, a nice head from the tap at their new spot downtown, which is really a pretty cool place and a nice extension of who they have become, i think its a great fit and its cool to have all the latest beers flowing. usually this would be a little dense for me visually, but it looks great in their branded teku it comes in, less intimidating that way maybe, and it holds the high head which looks nice. it smells and tastes softer than it looks, with a modern and dry hop forward hop profile, ripe honeydew and waxy honey itself, sweet clementine and tangerine, and just a bit of earthy wheat and maybe oats too from the grain. the freshness is noticeable right away, as it should be, this is new and its at their place, if it wasnt it would be a problem, but it still jumps out. the other thing i notice is the overall quality, like these guys have continued to improve over the last year or so, and nowhere more than in their hoppy stuff, this is approaching professional quality, which just was not the case a few years back. the hops seem southern hemisphere and pop with some white wine and green grape as it warms, a light candy sweetness to the whole thing, and maybe a cryo hop intensity, as its boldly fruity from start to finish but never green or bitey, and there is very little bitterness here. a little fuller bodied than i need, and the alcohol does peak through a little bit, but this is a double and its excellent overall. this series has gotten my attention. definitely a nice evolution here, recommended.