I’ve been hearing quite a bit about the Deschutes Brewery over the past year, so when I saw that The Foodery had several of their beers in stock, I decided to pick up a couple bottles. You know, “for research purposes only”.

Here is what Deschutes has to say about their Chainbreaker White IPA:

Deschutes is taking you into the next beer frontier. Brewed with wheat and pilsner malt; this IPA displays beautiful citrus aromas from Cascade and Citra hops that meld with the esters of Belgian yeast. Think thirst quenching hopped-up wit beer with enough IBUs to warrant the IPA name.

And now for my impressions of this beer…

Appearance: Slightly cloudy, golden yellow color. Off white, fluffy head that tops off at about an inch and dissipates rapidly.

Slightly cloudy, golden yellow color. Off white, fluffy head that tops off at about an inch and dissipates rapidly. Aroma: Upfront, it smells like your typical Belgian Wit with a healthy dose of clove, lemon zest, yeast, and coriander. A bit of hoppiness in the background with some subtle pineapple and grapefruit aromas coming through.

Upfront, it smells like your typical Belgian Wit with a healthy dose of clove, lemon zest, yeast, and coriander. A bit of hoppiness in the background with some subtle pineapple and grapefruit aromas coming through. Taste: Light to medium bodied with very light carbonation. At the onset, all of those Belgian Wit flavors that I picked up in the nose are front and center. A touch of hoppy bitterness comes through at mid-palate, but never enough to overpower the initial flavors. Lots of lemony citrus at the finish with those grapefruity hops finally showing up a bit in the aftertaste.

Deschutes Brewery calls their Chainbreaker a White IPA, but from what I can tell, the IPA aspects of this beer are playing a supporting role. Although this beer wasn’t as hoppy as I was expecting, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. Overall, I found this to be very crisp and refreshing, and would love to try this again on a warm summer day. My only request is that they drop the IPA from the label because I think it’s a bit misleading.