Wildcat India Pale Ale
Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company & Taproom

 

a classically styled and well made northwestern ipa, big piney bite to the hops, some grain structure, but clean on the finish and plenty drinkable. its pale beer but not yellow, a trace of some richer grain in the mix, a high rising white head in the glass, and an aroma of spruce, bitter grapefruit pith, and light honey, its hearty but not overwhelming, and smells extremely fresh, on tap at the brewery. the flavor is robust as they go, bitter all the way through, with obvious citrus behind the pine, a woodsy lushness to it, some dank oiliness from the hops as well, more bitter than is trendy now for sure, but tempered some by the malt, which has a european character and a lightly toasted aspect about it, perfect balance to still leave the hops in front but keep the beer from being one dimensional. clean on the ferment, a little bite on the finish, nice carbonation, and overall a solid, if somewhat samey, example of the style. the freshness counts for a lot here, and i enjoyed this quite well.

 

12oz can poured in to a nonic glass, canned 02/25/20.

Look- Clear dark amber color. Solid off-white head that slowly recedes to a thin cap, lots of sticky lacing. moderate carbonation streams visible.

Smell- Heavy caramel malt, pithy citrus (grapefruit and lemon), caramel malt, resinous pine and floral/spicy hop notes.

Taste- Similar to the aroma. Pithy citrus, resinous pine, sweet malts with an aggressive lingering hoppy bitter finish. Fairly well balanced.

Feel- Medium bodied, pretty crisp. Medium carbonation on the tongue.

O- A pretty text book rendition of a PacNW IPA. Solid but nothing overly spectacular.

Unknown vintage; drank 8/13/15 on draft @ Tap House Grill (Seattle).

Semi-opaque dull orange appearance.

Fluffy white head; a curtain of tree-rung lace.

Honeyed grain & apple notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Honeyed grain flavor up front; macro brew-meets-garbage water finish. Hopefully a dirty line?! Gross...

 

 

 

On-tap at Tap House Grill in Seattle. A maltier IPA, she says. Why not, I'll take a pint. On to the beer:

A creamy inch of head caps this rich copper colored beer, and the creaminess of the head and retention is awesome. A maltier IPA in aroma, sure, I don't mind. I still pick up orange and vague mixed fruits. Maybe Wildcat will get its motor running when I taste it? Well, not exactly. Okay, I'll be fair, the taste itself is fine, but there's something in that aftertaste that kills much of the pleasure I have getting. Esters and a side citrus fruits make an acceptable IPA taste, however the aftertaste is phenolic and bitter like aspirin, and it sticks like glue to the palate. Something didn't go right here, (brewer or alehouse related, I don't know who gets the bigger blame). Killing that bad aftertaste would boost the taste score an extra 0.5 easy.

Dark gold color, good 3/4" white head with above average lacing to it. Aroma was just soapy bitter cascade hops.

Taste had plenty of bitterness, nugget, cascade, chinook, maybe even simcoe I'd guess, all the bittering hops here. Not my favorite format, but very affordable nonetheless in the bomber for a standard ipa with no frills.

 

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