The beer is a very clear sort of orange straw color. The head is exceptionally thin, but it sticks around for a good while, and what head there is remains nice and thick. The aroma is hoppy, but it's got a bit of nut and even a hint of floral in there. The smell is not overpowering, and it doesn't waft it's way from the table beside my chair over to my nose like I look for in an ale.
First sip reveals a very strong floral hops taste with a significant bitter finish. I like a strong hop, but I'm not sure I like how much floral is in there, and the bitterness of the hops isn't suppressed by the malts as it should be. Of course, this is all off of one sip, so it would be unfair to not give it a big swig.
Okay, I had gotten preoccupied with my dog, so I left the beer for a bit, and it warmed. When I took my big draught, it was way better than that first sip. Right in the middle of the drink was a good amount of malt that I didn't taste before. After the bitter finish, there is a sweetness on the lips that is very nice. It's possible that letting it warm up a bit also helped, but I'm pretty sure that improvement was nothing compared to the need for a deep dive into it. A simple sip isn't enough for the complexity of the beer.
All told, this is a pretty good beer. It's not earth-shattering; I was going to say that it wasn't even the best IPA I've had this month, but it turns out that Lagunitas was last month, so I guess this actually is the best IPA I've had this month.
3.75/5