(un)Ordinary
Spartacus Brewing

 

Maybe the easiest hard IPA I ever had. There are citrus notes and definitely some bitterness, but the bitterness is cut short by all the flora and the lurking sweetness is perfectly subtle. Truly exceptional beer

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a very hazy, orange gold with a nice two finger white head with great retention and thick, chunky lacing. Aroma of pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, pineapple, mango, orange and a little dankness. Flavor is pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, orange, pineapple, green melon and mixed tropical fruit; light to moderately bitter finish with lots of fruity hop botanical flavor. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. I was on the fence with this one as it is clearly labelled as a hazy IPA, but wanted to give this Brazilian brewery a shot (although apparently these are brewed for them domestically, not a bad idea for an IPA). It does not quite have the bitterness I want in an IPA, but I was prepared for that, and ended up enjoying this quite a bit. Perhaps because of the higher IPA or their heavier than normal use of hops, this has more hop flavor and less old fruit juice character than most hazies. Like most, the flavor seems to die out without strong bitterness to help in the finish, but fortunately there are good hop cone flavors lingering to keep my interest in the finish. Not my style, but if these guys could please my taste buds despite that, they are doing something right. Their hop profile is great and the citrus flavors worked for me. I'd like to try them again.