On the Rail: NWIPA (Fat Head edition)

My Mom visited this weekend, so my ‘going out to write’ time was absorbed by ‘visiting with Mom’ instead. As a result, I’ve ended my weekend close to home with limited time to come out, have a beer and reflect on my weekend.

Which was pretty damn good, I have to say.

I don’t get many opportunities to talk about my Mom; she doesn’t like beer so my topic of choice here doesn’t pique her interest.

But, I also know that for some people, Mother’s Day is a difficult one. There are all kinds of reasons for this that I won’t bother going into. I think if you’ve met enough people in this life, you come across those for whom events that everyone else finds incredibly celebratory are for them instead sad or worse. That hasn’t been my story, and I’m lucky to say that.

I would say this about my Mom, at least for today: she is the kind of person who, if she found out you had a troubled Mother’s Day, would try to make you comfortable and feel better about it. It’s one of the better things I’ve learned from her and I hope that I am making her proud.

Fat Head brewing has been getting quite the push around town, especially for their IPAs so I try their Built for Speed IPA. It has a citrus/grapefruit nose, which isn’t unpleasant but that flavor IS starting to get old. Grapefruit finish too but it’s not overpowering, however it leaves a coating in my mouth that isn’t pleasant. It’s as if I should be drinking this beer with nachos or BBQ pork: the beer wants to scrub other flavors away. There is not a notable malt presence that I can pick up.

As I continue to drink the beer, a resiny, raisin flavor starts to appear. The finish becomes a lot more pungent and scouring than before. At first my thoughts were, Do I hate it? No. Can I recommend it? Not exactly. Halfway through, I’ve changed my mind: I don’t really want this beer. It’s unbalanced and unpleasant.