Double Header
WestBrew

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a hazy, medium gold-orange with a fine one finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, grapefruit, lemon, mixed tropical fruit and a little dankness. Flavor is pale malt, citrus and dank hops, grapefruit, tangerine, mixed stone fruit and a light terpenoid component that actually fit with the citrus flavors. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess and nice mouth feel. Well, I wasn't expecting much from this IPA, being a hazy from a small brewery with few reports on BA, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Citra character was up front and the light camphor/terpine notes (which I suspect are from the cryo portion of the hops?) were initially disconcerting, but I liked their interplay with the Citra profile. Also a quite nice creamy mouthfeel that improved the overall taste for me. And best of all, it has moderate bitterness that was more than satisfactory for my usually hazy resistant taste buds. Not sure how this fits with other hazy IPAs, but I liked it just fine. I'll watch for something else from these guys; if they make me like a hazy, they're doing something right.