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It’s Sunday evening, and it’s been a really long weekend. We had a showing of our house, and two birthday parties for my daughter. I finally get a chance to sit down and relax, so I grabbed a beer and started watching the amazing race. The bottle says “Best by 01/29/14,” so I’m a little behind. I don’t remember exactly where or when I got this, but I think it was part of the mixed six pack that my wife got me for my birthday in September.
Location: Poured into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 6.8% ABV, 0 IBUs, % OG, 180 Calories
Ingredients: Malt: Pale, Crystal, Munich, Caramel; Hops: Millennium, Horizon, Centennial, Northern Brewer, Cascade, Citra
Appearance & Aroma: It’s dark amber-red in color and slightly hazy. It has a huge rocky-soapy head with great retention and the lacing. The aroma is mostly hops, with piney smells and some caramel maltiness right behind it.
Taste & Feel: It’s medium bodied with a creamy mouthfeel from the head, with a little bit of hop crispness behind it. The flavors up front are light caramel and lightly bready malts with some piney hops behind it. In the middle, the piney hop flavors grow and are joined by some citrus. The hop flavors are in full swing in the finish, with bitterness to match. The bitterness continues to rise in the aftertastes and lasts for a few minutes.
Food Pairing: This is a pretty hoppy and bitter beer, with pine and citrus hop flavors. I’d probably pair it with something like chicken wings or another spicy food. However, with the hoppiness, it also made me think it would make a good pairing for a BLT as well.
Overall Impression: I enjoyed the malty flavors up front, the gradual growth of hop flavors throughout, and the kick of bitterness at the end. It takes you on a journey and leaves you with the bitterness you’d expect from a Northwest IPA. Overall, I thought this was a good IPA with a good mix of malt and hop flavors and bitterness.
My Rating: 
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