Freshly Squeezed Harvest IPA
Black Gold Brewery

Tallboy from the brewery; dated 09/10/2022 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a cloudy amber-orange, its complexion obscured by countless flecks of sandy sediment; it's crowned with more than two fingers of gloriously puffy, lumpy white head that lasts for quite some time. It leaves behind a beautiful coat of webbed lace before eventually being reduced to a creamy collar and sudsy cap - just a beautiful glass of beer. Lightly caramelized sugars and bready malts on the nose; I'm also getting grapefruit, orange peel and hints of green, spicy hops.

A tasty, balanced IPA, its flavours leaning toward old school sensibilities: there's grapefruit and orange, with a relatively robust backbone of honey-sweet, lightly caramelized sugars, wheat and bready malt. Citrus pith and herbal hops on the back end, with a modest hint of piney bitterness dissipating into a resiny aftertaste that lingers. Medium-light in body, with very low carbonation that limply brushes against the tongue, resulting in a flat, slightly dissatisfying mouthfeel - still, this is a very drinkable pale ale in spite of that flaw.

Final Grade: 3.83, a B+. Freshly Squeezed Harvest IPA was a pleasure to try: I am not sure if this is technically a "wet hopped" pale ale, but it is totally giving off the same kind of verdant, green hop flavours that I associate with that semi-uncommon seasonal substyle. I think this is officially my favourite Black Gold beer so far, but there's still one more in the back of my fridge, and it's a doozy - a pineapple jalapeño imperial IPA!