355ml of a 6.25 ABV beer, making it 1.7 standard drinks in kiwi land.
Pale golden in color with a hoppy fruity aroma. Big hop flavor up front complemented by medium body and hoppyness mid-pallet. Finishes with a characteristic lingering bitterness. and this rolls in at 70 IBU slap in the middle of the IPA range, and almost as many ingredients as dwarves Cara Foam, Melanoiden & Great Western 2-Row Malts; Amarillo & Perle Hops, Free Range Coastal Water & Pacman Yeast.
Ah, the familiar hoppy grass aroma, orange golden pour and a bracingly good head, is that 3 in a row? Delicate grassiness dominates and has a really long finish, almost one dimension. But then you take some more and there are some floral notes and a bit of a carnival going on underneath. Very clever.And then.... I realised I had this before, in a bigger bottle almost a year ago. Wherein I described it as a bit one dimensional. Howzat!! And looking back I was chubbier and less less expressive.
Has it, or my taste, changed in the intervening months? Because I write as I drink clearly not. or not. I get a few more things going on under the hopiness note, but I still think that this is a bit of a one trick pony. I also don't think it's impressively bitter.
What I do think however is that this is a jolly good beer that you could drink a fair bit of, quickly and easily, there is nothing to prevent you from drinking this or thinking that it'd bore you or challenge you to enjoy it, it just a daily nice middle of the road beer.
The pdubyah-o-meter has no problems with a review of the 8 and thinks that this would be "generous" given my current thinking and change of the way that I enjoy or appreciate beer. So I mark this to 7 still being better than good but not outstanding.
Hey if this was on tap at the local then I'd be in boots and all, in like Flynn, off like a robbers dog and all that. It's nice to have something that is this pleasant and rewarding.
Having said that though, this is still good coins for a beer that is just "good" and it's a big pool you're swimming in with a straight IPA. There are better, but then you might have wandered away from middle-of-the-road good-to-drink into challenge-me, which might not be where you want to be, at this time of night and at this moment. As I am now.
He said, scratching his head as to why he's finished this and has to find another thing to drink.
