The nose is tropical fruit sweet; I get a strong, ripe papaya scent off this beer. I like that, but it wasn’t what I was expecting from an west coast IPA. I suppose I’m just going to have to accept that the new nomenclature is: East Coast IPA: hazy grapefruit, West Coast IPA: clear + all other flavors, including grapefruit.
But back to this beer. The drink is bitter. Surprisingly bitter on the finish and I was honestly a bit dismayed at first. Maybe about halfway through, I got used to it but there is no bridge between this fruity nose and this near scouring bitterness; there’s just liquid.
Do I dislike this? Mmm…well, I can’t say that I’m a huge fan. It isn’t bad but I was definitely craving something to close the gap between the nose of the beer and the finish of the beer.
As always, YMMV.
A pint for Dionysus 