Tavoro
Living Waters Brewing

Undated can poured into a tulip glass. Figure it's a week or two old based on distributed schedules at the bottle shop in question.

Pretty pedestrian looking fluid, very pale with a copper hue, somewhere between West Coast (clear) and East Coast (hazie), but not really definitively fitting into either category. Nice soapy and sticky head with great splotchy lacing.

Living Waters really has a distinct aroma to their beers, which I assume comes from the house yeast. Whatever it is, I really like it and it provides a truly unique personality, which is pretty rare in today's world. But this one has a LOT going for it. Huge grape, berry, mango, pineapple, tangerine, apricot, pear, and citrus. Woody and earthy, Grassy and dank. Just a touch of sweet onion (which I like). There's a slight twang of vanilla or lactose sweetness, but it's very subtle and complimentary, versus being primary player. I was unfamiliar with the Talus hop so looked it up for background. Being related to Sabro makes sense in that I now (after reading about the typical hop profile) see the vanilla and lactose being slightly "pina colada"-like. But where Sabro often screams coconut to me (in a bad way), the Talus seems to play in a much more harmonious way and doesn't change the beer from beer to cocktail. Truly a unique (in a good way) smelling DIPA.

Taste is equally interesting but not quite as exceptional or harmonious. A little sweeter than other Living Waters IPAs, though they all typically have a pleasant and alluring degree of residual sweetness. Here the fruit sweetness (with tropical fruits dominating and stone and citrus playing noticeable but secondary roles) borders on overripe, the coconut is just a little more pronounced, and the lactose note (whether or not there actually is any lactose involved) takes this thing right up to the line in terms of candied-level IPA sweetness. But it doesn't cross that line, and the complimentary grapefruit pith, pronounced pine resin, surprising peppery note, and nice herbal and dank greenery provides solid balance and layers. I worried that this beer would get cloyingly sweet as it warmed, but it actually stayed pretty consistent. It did start to get a little boozy, however. Still, it was extremely tasty and unique, and it went down dangerously easy. Kudos for something different in a world awash in big IPAs.

Feel is soft, solid-bodied, and a really nice level of stickiness for a big IPA. Incredible teeth and tongue coating.

This might be my favorite Living Waters IPA to date (which is a high compliment). It's certainly the most unique.