Ginland Northwest
Utara Brewing Company

even though all of the beer we had in here was good, this was my favorite. a gin barrel aged double ipa, but it seems like it must be loaded with botanicals too, like this is so intensely aromatic and pungent and herbaceous that it seems like it cant possibly come entirely from the gin barrel, unless of course it wasnt fully emptied before being filled with this beer, which would essentially mean some gin is blended into it, which might make sense, but man is this powerfully botanical! the complexion is cool too, in the nose its white sage, juniper berry, white pepper, clove, wet pine, lime leaf, lemongrass, tangerine zest, lime juice, dill, and even like a thai basil spiciness, its crazy. the flavor has all of that, but also some bitterness, likely some from the hops and some from the botanicals. interestingly, the spirit is way ahead of the wood here, like i get some mellowing oak late, but its way more about the essence of the gin itself. the base ipa seems real balanced, like i get a lot of malt character, its weighty and a little sweet, but i would miss it if it were gone, even if this would seem decidedly old school without the gin, the malt really keeps it grounded and beery and balanced. no trace of its alcohol strength at all which is impressive, and without too much hop intensity thankfully, the gin more than covers that. super interesting beer, my wife and i both adored it, about as gin forward as i have ever known a beer to be, but not all out of whack. clever and delicious!