Ice Knife
Block 15 Brewing - Southtown Tap Room

16oz can. Poured out a clear, golden orange color with a small, white head of fluffy foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of orange, grapefruit, mango and caramel. Sweet tropical fruit taste with toasted caramel and a sharp piney bitterness.

Pours a slightly cloudy, medium golden amber with a one finger white head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, citrus and fruit hops, vague mixed citrus and other fruit with a hint of dankness. Flavor is pale malt, citrus fan and fruit hops, grapefruit, mixed fruit esters and a citrus rind and ester finish with fair bitterness that a little resinous. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. I guess this is somewhat West Coast style, but it does seem to most reflect the processed hops that make up its hop bill. I'd never heard of the Salvo hop product, but was taken aback to see it described as removing most of the alpha oils and resulting bitterness. Uh-oh. As it turns out, this has satisfactory bitterness in the finish and it's at the low end, but well withing the style. The hop portion has some good citrus and fruit character, but it's a little artificial, like drinking Tang (is that still around?) as a kid instead of orange juice. I liked it, but it's not quite the same thing. I liked the first burst of hops flavors, but things rather mellow out afterward, but had an adequate bitter finish with the return of fruit esters, which I like in an IPA. Interesting and hits the IPA spot, but won't replace a classic WC IPA in my rotation.

Canned 6/13/24. Pour is light unfiltered hazy. Frothy head, light lacing. You get a lot of fruit aromas on the initial pour, with some remaing as you drink it down. Taste follows through with more fruity hop flavors, very light on the malt. The feel is good, taste is refreshing, but you feel you are left a little short as the flavors seem one-dimensional. ABV is a standard 7%.

It's a good WCIPA with a different slant on hop types and tastes.

This is brewed with Salvo™ hop extract and cryo Strata hops. It's certainly hopped to the poiint of silliness, but it's a different sort of "modern" IPA. Quite sweet with endless orange juice taste. Reminiscent of the New England orange glop, but perfectly clear and also not overly acidic. Aftertaste of orange rind along with the same aroma.

I suppose as an experiment this is worth trying if you're the hop enthusiast. Overall borderline drinkability but huge flavors in the fruit department. Plenty of foam on the tongue and seemingly well made. From the 16 oz can purhased further north. Dated but not legible; apparently fresh.