How would you describe a cat to someone who had never seen one, but had only seen dogs? Think about it for a moment. If you’re anything like me, you’d basically just compare them to dogs and point out the differences. And then if you asked them to draw one, they’d draw a picture of a very catty dog.
Using this ridiculous scenario as a point of reference, hear me out: this beer is like a West Coast IPA made by someone who’d only ever had hazies, but had had West Coast IPAs described to them.
“They’re clear instead of hazy. They’re more about resin and grapefruit and pawpaw than light tropical flavours. They usually have more body from the malt - but velvety thick, not pulpy orange juice thick. And they’re bitter.”
This Juicy Double IPA is bitter - compared to a hazy. It’s full of overripe mango and pawpaw and zest, while still retaining some of those juicy characteristics of a hazy from new school hop varieties Talus and Idaho 7. It has more malt body than many hazies, without pushing into that chewiness of a big West Coast; after all, the aforementioned hazy drinker couldn’t even imagine that kind of syrupy malt body.
Or maybe this overly complex fabrication only makes sense to my lockdown-addled brain, in which case: If you like West Coasts, you’ll like this. If you only like hazies and West Coasts have intimidated you in the past, give this a go.
Mick Wust
Published August 5, 2021 2021-08-05 00:00:00
