Uinta Hop Nosh IPA

What do I know about Uinta? I know I can't spell it without looking at least twice to make sure I spelled it correctly. I also know that it's the first brew I've tried that is from Utah. No, not Johnny Utah, the young and ambitious FBI agent who figures out that a crew of surfers are actually the true bank robber, but the state.

The copper beer has a thick, white, sticky head that is all about being an IPA. It is patchy as all get-out, and it really radiates the air of competence as it pertains to IPAs. The aroma is fainter than I expected, but it has both pine and floral hops coming through in a fairly good mixture - not overpowering on either end. The malt is not really much beyond a faint graininess.

First sip is much more malty than I expected. It's not that the hops aren't enjoying themselves in the bath of water and malt, but the malt is much sweeter and kinder than most IPAs would deliver. The malt's sweetness removes all trace of bitterness from the hops, so the result is one of the smoothest IPAs I think I may ever have had. I hope this translates into the swig. If so, I may have found the Guinness of IPAs (not like that crappy Guinness IPA).

Tip-in is very gentle carbonation burn with malt sweetness, grains, and light pine and floral hops. The middle swings on in with a somewhat sudden carbonation and spiky hop burning on the roof of the mouth with the malt tamping everything down around the tongue so that caramel can mix with the pine and floral notes to swirl a very good, but not gentle, taste. The finish is a surge of hops over everything else to the point that bitterness is the prime taste in the trail-off.

Bottom Line: The best beer I've had from Utah, and a really good IPA.

4.0/5