The color is orange with a gold tint added. The head is light and fluffy, and it has good staying power while not being overwhelming. Lacing is a bit more sparse than expected, but the bubbles are slow to move down, and they really are very pretty. The aroma is hoppy, but it is - again - not overwhelming. The citrus is calm and mild malt backs it up nicely.First sip is extremely hoppy, and I like it. It is way more hoppy than the nose told me, and there are pine hops that really seem to be taking over. I don't know where the citrus went, but the pine is really dominating everything. There's enough malt to cut the bitterness of the hops, but this is certainly a well-hopped beer. Swig time!
Tip-in is pine hops and carbonation burn throughout the mouth. Light biscuits are there in the background, but the pine is center stage. The middle become more bready, but the effect is basically a hop sandwich. The citrus peeks out to calm the pine down considerably, but we're still talking hops here, and we haven't hit bitter yet. If experience is any guide, I'm about to hit bitter just before the finish. As the finish comes, I brace, and... there is a slight bite of bitterness and then sweetness from the malt comes back to tamp it down. Trailing off is sweetness on the lips and a lingering bitterness on the back of the tongue.
Bottom Line: This came in a big bottle, and I'm going to enjoy every bit of it.
3.75/5
