It’s a couple days before Thanksgiving, and I had to pick up a huge turkey, because we’re having everyone over at our house for Thanksgiving. In order to make room in the refrigerator, I needed to clear out a few beers. So, I thought I’d sit down and enjoy this one I stuck in the fridge a couple weeks ago. It’s from my sister’s trip to Asheville, North Carolina this past fall. I’ve never heard of this brewery before, so I’m looking forward to trying it.

Location: Poured into a snifter style glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 8% ABV, ~300 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: it’s orange in color, and pretty hazy. The head fell after a minute or two to just a soapy layer of bubbles that barely covered the top. The aroma is a solid citrus hop smell.

Taste & Feel: the body is medium and the mouthfeel is somewhat crisp. The flavor up front is sweet and orangey-citrusy, with some light maltiness. In the middle, a citrusy bitterness comes in and grows into the finish. The finish is citrusy with mostly hop bitterness and some citrusy and malty sweetness in the background. The bitterness, mixed with some malty sweetness lasts for a minute or two in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This beer has a good amount of citrus flavors, both in sweetness and bitterness. Because of that, I’d suggest countering that flavor with a spicy Mexican dish – giving it a flare much like a spicy mango salsa.

Overall Impression: The citrus in this beer was very orange peel like, making it a bit unique from other IPAs. It had a good malt malt backbone to provide sweetness, but the flavor was mostly hops. The hop flavor and bitterness seemed a bit disconnected to me, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. For a double IPA, it was pretty smooth and drinkable. Overall, I thought it was a good beer with a pretty smooth, and very unique flavor.

My Rating:

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